Please note that some of the Vietnamese words
that you encounter may be spelled as a phonetic depiction of what the phrase
or word sounds like and I cannot promise that it sounds the same to
everyone. The actual written Vietnamese word, with the special characters,
is way beyond my abilities and those of my computer (I have several font
faces but not the Vietnamese one). There are some words that I am sure of
the spelling and written those, but again I have not included the
characters. What I write here might be pronounced diversely by different
readers. You have been warned, and, don't forget - I do not know how to
speak Vietnamese. Only enough to get by for story content and ordering take
away meals. Also, I apologize for any anguish or disrespect I might cause to
those who "really know" the language.
Vietnamese Vocabulary used in the story:
|
Mama San | - pidgin English for older Vietnamese women |
|
Papa San | - " " " " " men |
| Xin loi | - sorry about that, tough shit (depends on context used in) |
|
Ga mug | - thank you |
|
Ca'm o-n nhienu | - thank you very much (pronounced Caam uhrn neow) |
| Tam biet | - goodbye |
|
Ba Mu'o'i Ba | - brand name of Vietnamese beer |
| ao-di | - traditional dress of Vietnamese women |
|
ba | - married woman, "Mrs" |
| biet | - understand |
|
bo dai | - uniformed NVA soldier |
| Caca Dau | - I'll kill you |
| can cuoc | - identification card |
| choi oi | - expression of surprise "what the hell?" |
|
chung toi | - We |
|
co | - unmarried woman "Miss" |
|
con gai | daughter |
|
dai uy | - captain |
|
di | - go |
|
didi | - to leave or to go |
|
didi mau | - go quickly |
|
di bau | - walk, go by walking |
|
Dinki dau | - you're crazy |
Point of Interest for those that didn't know;
"A-Team" is a basic ten man team of the U.S Special Forces. The A-Teams
often led irregular, military units which were not responsible to the
Vietnamese military command.
'They came from all over the nation, for all different reasons. But these
soldiers had one thing in common: their friendship, forged under fire. Some
of them gave of themselves; others gave their lives. They were heroes
because they had to be.'
"With all due respect sir, I can not and will not send my men back into the
jungle. They need a break. Either they be allowed to rest for a few days
or you're going to have more casualties on your hands!" Colonel John
"Hannibal" Smith tried to reason, without losing his composure.
"Colonel, I can understand what you are saying and if there were any other
possible alternatives, I would take them, believe me." General Anthony
Phillips sighed. He rubbed his furrowed brow and continued.
"The truth of
the matter is there is no one else that I could send to do this mission.
The LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol), has already radioed me with the
location of the NVA regiment. I need you John. I need you and your men."
Phillips said imploring Hannibal with his eyes. "John your team is the only
one that can pull this off."
Hannibal looked towards the ceiling and expelled the breath that he'd been
holding. With it he let go his pent up frustrations and focused back not
the general.
"Look general.."
"John, have a seat and cut the 'general' crap. I want to be able to work
this out and I don't want you standing on ceremony while we do it. It's bad
enough I spend every waking moment fighting the VC's every move without
having to battle you." Phillips gently chided him.
With a look of resignation, Hannibal accepted his friends offer and rested
his fatigued body in the plush chair. Accepting the cigar offered to him he
bit the end of it and spat it into the receptacle beside the desk.
"Tony," Hannibal said with familiarity of all the years that they had been
friends, having served together since the Korean war.
"All I'm asking for
is a few days for the boys to get over the last trip into the jungle. Two
months is a long time to spend out there, not knowing if each day you were
facing was going to be your last. You said yourself that the LRRP had given
you the location of the NVA regiment. Surely they've got enough nous to
stay out of sight and keep you updated on the VC position."
Phillips watched Hannibal light his cigar and inhale the pleasing taste of
the rich tobacco.
"This the same brand that Face acquired for you?" Hannibal
asked, blowing out light coloured plumes of cigar smoke.
"Yeah they are." Chuckled Phillips. "John at most all that I can give you
is 48 hours and then I must insist that you take out that regiment."
"Thanks Tony, I do appreciate it...and I'll let them know the good news.
It shouldn't be to hard to track them down. They were all wanting a hot
shower, something a bit more substantial than a quick wash in the river
every now and then." Hannibal smiled and then left in search of his men.
As he expected the men in his command were either just finishing their
showers or still having them. Past the pile of strewn towels and dirty worn
out fatigues in the centre of the room he found lieutenant Peck, brushing
his hair which was considerably cleaner from a couple of hours ago.
"Feel better lieutenant?" Hannibal smiled then he sniffed. "You sure smell
a lot cleaner."
Face turned around and pointed his comb at Hannibal's face. "Yeah, well you
weren't exactly smelling like a florist shop either you know." He pocketed
his comb and packed his toiletries away, "If you're looking for BA, he's
still in the shower, he said something about staying in it till the end of
the war." Face laughed.
"Well I think he'll be out before then…, there isn't that much hot water."
Hannibal replied smugly and continued to wait for Face while he gathered the
last of his belongings together.
"You want something Hannibal?" Face questioned, uncertain as to why Hannibal
was being so quiet.
"Huh kid?" Hannibal asked, not really paying attention
to what Face had said.
"Hannibal what's wrong?" Face questioned yet again, becoming anxious at his
colonel's somber mood.
"That obvious huh kid?" Hannibal grinned.
Face rolled his eyes in a 'no shit' look. "Yeah…, that obvious. Now
spill." He gestured towards the door, and with his CO he exited the changing
room.
"How about I tell you when BA, Zeke and the others are here. Saves me
repeating myself that way. You seen Murdock around here at all?" Hannibal
asked, scanning the base for any signs of the eccentric captain.
"Surprise, surprise, surprise. Well golly!" he shower block." Hannibal
instructed, leading the way ahead of his two subordinates.
Face and Murdock exchanged bewildered glances and obediently followed their
superior officer.
"Hey colonel, what's up?" BA asked when Hannibal entered the billet followed
by Face and Murdock. Zeke also looked in the colonel's direction when he
heard BA speak.
"Well what do you want to hear first? The good news or the bad news?"
Hannibal asked, rifling through his pocket for another cigar. Face was the
first to answer.
"I've always been an optimist, I'll take the good news."
"General Phillips has given us 48 hours for R&R, the next transport into Da
Nang leaves in forty-five minutes." Hannibal replied, waiting for someone to
asked what the bad news was. Finally Murdock asked. Hannibal smiled and
removed the cigar from his mouth.
"We get to go back and visit Charlie. There's an NVA regiment that the LRRP
boys have located and the general wants us to take it out."
Amidst the protests Murdock's questions were heard.
"Take it 'out' colonel?
Where should we take it to? Dancing or dinner or maybe even a movie?"
"Shut up fool. Can't you be serious for one minute. You're out of your
mind!" BA grumbled at the grinning Murdock. "Yeah, ain't it cool." Murdock
smiled. BA shook his head in annoyance.
"I'm gonna leave you with this
crazy man. I promised my Momma that I'd call her when we got back, just to
let her know we got back all right."
"Okay BA, we'll meet you by the transport in say twenty minutes." Hannibal
said, looking at his watch, calculating how much time that they had left.
BA smiled to himself as he left the billet, leaving behind him Murdock and
his inane chatter. It was a few minutes before BA got his turn to use the
telephone to call home. His call was answered on the third ring.
"Momma?"
He asked excitedly. During the course of his conversation with his mother,
small tears made an appearance at the corners of his eyes.
"Yes Momma I'm
taking care of myself…, and getting enough to eat. Hannibal says we got
forty-eight hours before we gotta go back into the jungle again. Momma!
Momma….., don't cry. Momma you'll make me cry….. I'll take care Momma.
God bless you too Momma."
After his phone call had ended, BA struck out at the wall. Venting all his
frustrations for being caught up in a war, which had seen many of his
friends either killed or maimed for life. He skinned his knuckles in the
process, leaving small rivulets of blood dripping down the wall.
"BA, over here." Hannibal called, when he saw BA sauntering off towards the
billet. BA raised his head and acknowledged Hannibal.
"How's your Mom?
Hannibal asked as BA neared the truck..
"She's okay, just worried is all."
Responded BA in a somewhat sober mood.
The trip into town was uneventful. Each person looking out the windows at
the passing scenery and each of them caught up in their own personal
thoughts. The villagers were painting and cleaning their houses in
preparation for the Tet Nguyen Dan holiday, which was to begin soon.
On their arrival in town, Hannibal and Face found lodgings for the night for
the platoon. The building they entered was surrounded by sandbags,
concertina wire and had a machine gun positioned on the roof. Although the
Tet holiday was to begin tomorrow, the NVA used it as an offensive to attack
the Southern Vietnamese.
With rooms secured for the night Hannibal and face left the boarding house
to locate the rest of their team. The ruckus coming from a nearby bar
indicated their whereabouts. Hannibal and Face stopped outside the door and
bought from a pedlar two souvenir dolls. One of the young girls standing
beside the elderly woman that was peddling her goods noticed the gold
crucifix around Face's neck.
As she started to flirt with him, the other girl noticed what she was doing
and joined in.
"Catholic's number one. Bhudda's number ten." The girl
said, gesturing to the cross that Face wore.
"You lie. Bhudda is number
one." The older girl argued with her. The two girls fought fiercely
knocking over the pedlar's stall. Face was about to intervene and stop the
girls from pulling each others hair, when he felt a tight grasp on his
shoulder.
"No conversing with children!" The rugged MP warned him. Face shrugged his
shoulders at the MP not understanding what he had done that was so wrong.
"I'm sorry lieutenant, it's just that the VC use children to get close to
American soldiers. Sometimes these kids carry small hand grenades. Just
can't be too careful." The MP explained.
"Thanks." Uttered Face, still shocked that children were being used to fight
the war between North and South Vietnamese.
"Come on kid, better go and
sort out that lot in there before the MP's are called back." Hannibal said.
Face nodded his agreement and helped to upright the fallen stall.
"There you go 'Mama San'. Xin loi." Hannibal offered, dusting off a few of
the small souvenir dolls. The elderly woman looked at Hannibal, her clear
brown eyes conveying her appreciation.
"Ga mug." She said and pushed her
cart further down the street.
"Hey you two we were about to send out a search party." Zeke shouted above
the noise. He pointed to the two chairs that he had saved for them.
Hannibal indicated to Face that he was going up to the bar, when Face
offered Hannibal some money to pay for the beers, Hannibal waved him away.
"Your shout next round." He said.
"What will it be colonel?" Asked the bar tender. Hannibal eyed up all the
drinks that were available and then settled on one in particular.
"Two Ba
Mu'o'i Ba, thanks." Hannibal answered and handed over the correct amount of
piastres. He made his way back to the table and handed Face his Vietnamese
beer.
"Drink up lieutenant, I'll be ready for the next round soon." Laughed
Hannibal and drank
from the bottle, savoring its contents. Face nodded at Hannibal,
understanding what he had meant and made his way to the bar with the empty
bottles.
"Two more of the same barkeep." Face said handing over the empty
bottles.
As they relaxed enjoying their cold beers and listening to the latest music
on the jukebox, Hannibal began to reminisce on his time spent in military
training schools before being assigned to various units.
"You think you had it hard, when I was at Fort Bragg, I had to pull guard
duty one night. The temperature so cold it could have frozen the balls off
a brass monkey. I was watching the snow fall, amazed by the size of the
flakes that were falling, they were bloody big. The drill sergeant caught
me watching them and let me have a closer look at them ...by doing pushups
in the snow at 0300 hours." Face complained and shuddered at the memory of
being so cold.
"Face why does that not surprise me?" Hannibal laughed and was joined by
Zeke and the others that had been listening to Face's tales. The exchange
of stories went on during the night until the small hours of the next
morning.
"I think we should call it a night, big day later on this morning." Hannibal
said, checking his watch, seeing that it had already passed 2:00AM. Without
a word of complaint the men in his command followed him back to the hotel
accommodations that he and Face had booked earlier. The building was
adorned with sprigs of yellow blossomed Hoa Mai, for the Tet Nguyen
festival.
"You know what I'm looking forward to." Face said to Hannibal.
"What kid?"
Hannibal asked, already having an idea as to what his second in command was
going to say.
" A real bed. Much better than sleeping in a foxhole or with your back
against a tree all night." Face grinned, relishing the thought of letting
his battle weary body enjoy the soft and gentle warmth that a real bed would
offer him.
"Ah, but you like it kid--roughing it in the woods, communing with
nature.." Hannibal started to say before Face interrupted.
"Hannibal first
of all it's the jungle not the woods and the only nature out there to
commune with are the mosquitoes and snakes."
Hannibal chuckled at Face's comment and continued on in silence. As they
approached the dimly let alley way that led to the hotel, Hannibal stopped
abruptly.
"What's up?" Face whispered. Hannibal shook his head.
"It's too
quiet, considering the festival starts tomorrow. Just be careful."
BA and Zeke heeded the warning and passed the word along to the others in
the platoon. The passage of the alley was strange, frightening. Stark
white faces emerged from one of the doorways that they passed. Hannibal saw
a frightened Vietnamese woman cowering in a corner. When he approached her,
she looked at him with close, direct clear brown eyes.
"Mama San?" Hannibal asked gently, trying to evoke a response from the
woman. She acknowledged him and pointed to the door that they had passed.
"GI's, take daughter." She replied in broken English.
Looking back towards the doorway, Hannibal nodded, knowing that the elderly
woman was defenseless in being able to get her daughter out of the building
by herself.
"Face, BA, we've got a party to break up. Murdock stand guard,
if we're not out within ten minutes you better come in."
"Sure colonel, but remember to call if you need some extra help." Murdock
answered. Zeke followed Hannibal inside with Face and BA, while the rest of
the platoon waited with Murdock.
Too many times Hannibal had seen soldiers succumb to the easy escapes from
war, turning to drugs and alcohol. Seeing several soldiers passed out from
the illegal use of the narcotics did not make it easier for him to deal
with.
"Over here colonel." BA said, pointing in the direction of a group of six
men huddled around a young girl. Hannibal nodded and gestured for his men
to flank each side, blocking the exits that the drunken soldiers could try
and use.
"Let the girl go now!" Hannibal seethed, trying to control the rage that was
building inside him. The drunken lout in charge of the small group,
staggered forward, crashing into a table in an attempt to reach Hannibal.
"What's it to you?" He slurred, "she's just a whore, a gook." As he spoke
the young girl, got up from the floor and made her way behind BA, seeking
refuge behind the muscular sergeant.
"The young lady is not a gook, soldier, nor is she a whore! You have a duty
to protect the citizens caught up in this war, they have been through enough
already without the likes of you making their lives more intolerable! Have I
made myself clear, private?!" Hannibal berated the man in front of him.
"I'm a sergeant not a private!" The drunk retorted, swinging his balled fist
towards Hannibal.
"You will be a private by the time I have finished with
you!" Shouted Hannibal, easily ducking the punch thrown at him.
Seeing their drunken friend throw a punch, the others joined in, each
selecting a target on which to vent their anger at having been caught. The
fight that ensued was short lived, each of the drunken men lying on top of
each other over broken and upturned tables. Hannibal walked over to where
Face was leaning against the wall.
"You all right kid?" he said handing
Face a crudely made ice pack.
"Yeah, I'll live….., didn't see that guy. He sure knows how to pack a
punch." Face grimaced applying the ice pack to the rapidly forming bruise
under his right eye.
"Hold it! Stay right where you are!" Shouted an MP, aiming his service
revolver at Face. Murdock had followed the MP's inside and was frantically
shouting at them above the noise of the juke-box.
"Not them," Murdock said
pointing at Hannibal, BA, Face and Zeke.
"Those are the guys you need to
arrest…the ones on the floor."
"Uh ….sorry about that captain." The MP said, turning his revolver away from
the direction of Face. He then summonsed the two MP's that were waiting for
his instruction to place the drunken men under arrest.
"What would you like
them charged with colonel?"
Hannibal wasted no time in rattling off a list of charges as he withdrew a
cigar from his pocket.
"Conduct unbecoming a soldier, willful destruction of
private property and attempted rape."
After the MP had finished writing down the colonel's list of charges the MP
looked at Face.
"What about you sir? Anything to add?"
Face removed the ice pack and smiled. "How about assaulting an officer?" He
said, his eyes twinkling with glee as he added his charge.
"Duly noted sir." The MP grinned. He moved a little closer to Face and
whispered.
"It makes a change not to be placing you under arrest this time
lieutenant."
After the room had emptied of all its patrons and BA had escorted the girl
outside, Hannibal approached Face.
"What was that all about?" Face looked
at Hannibal and gave him a wry smile.
"Long story, let's just say last time
Malloy, the MP, was sure that I was guilty when he arrested me, purely on
the grounds of association."
"And were you?" Hannibal asked intrigued at an issue from Face's past coming
to the surface. Face grinned at Hannibal and shrugged his shoulders.
"What
do you think?" He asked, before walking off to catch up with Murdock..
Face found Murdock outside the door with BA, Zeke and the young girl.
"Where's Hannibal?" Murdock enquired when he saw Face emerge from the
building.
"He's just wrapping a few things up, shouldn't be too long." Face
answered, turning back towards the door he'd exited he saw Hannibal. "Speak
of the devil." Face added.
"How is she BA?" Hannibal asked, noticing that the girl had found a
protector in BA.
"She's frightened man, time to get her back to her Momma."
Stated BA, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
Together the platoon crossed the empty street and found the girl's mother.
Hannibal cautioned the others to remain alert while he and BA took the girl
to her mother.
"Mama San. Con gai." Hannibal said to the girl's mother.
When she saw that her daughter was all right, she graciously thanked
Hannibal and BA.
"Ga Mug. Ca'm o`n nhienu." The girl's mother repeated over and over.
Han0nibal smiled at being able to help.
"Kong co chi, ba." His words were
welcomed with a warm smile from both the girl and her mother.
"Tam biet."
They both said as they left the vicinity.
"Tam biet." Hannibal replied, watching them disappear from view.
Crossing back to where the platoon was waiting, Hannibal signaled to them
that the girl had been reunited with her mother.
"Now that the night's
excitement is over, I am more than ready to hit the pillow." Hannibal
sighed, heading in the direction of their sleeping accommodation.
"Hannibal, why are you going to hit your pillow?" Murdock asked, concerned
for the pillow's well being.
"Ah, Murdock, what Hannibal meant to say is
that when he gets into bed he will put his head on the pillow and go nighty
night." Face quickly said.
"You know Face I really hope that is what he meant, because the pillow, it
didn't do anything to him and it just might call on all of its friends to
start a pillow liberation army, and we wouldn't want that would be?" Murdock
asked with sincere seriousness.
Face shook his head and thought best to keep quiet rather than get Murdock
started on his next crusade, fighting for the defenseless inanimate objects.
"Murdock, if you don't shut your mouth I'm gonna feed you to a pillow."
Growled BA, gently swiping Murdock on his head. Face decided that now would
be a god time to catch up with Hannibal.
"For yourselves," Hannibal said, rubbing his
weary eyes, "all I want to do is climb under the blankets and get some real
sleep for a change. Coming lieutenant?"
"Sure colonel." Face replied, taking the opportunity to leave the argument
that he was slowly becoming entangled with.
The stillness and quiet of the morning was broken by a culminating crescendo
of explosions, quickly followed by joyous laughter from the young spectators
in the street below.
"What the hell is that?" Face yelled, clambering out of bed and falling over
the chair beside it.
"Take it easy kid. It's only fireworks ….., it's the
first day of the Tet Nguyen Dan holiday." Hannibal chuckled, turning on his
back and placing his hands under his head.
"Tet Nguyen…, hmm, well can't they go and be noisy somewhere else?" Face
grumbled, before gathering his towels and flannel together.
"Where ya goin'
kid?" Hannibal asked when Face did not bother getting back into bed for a
few more minutes peaceful slumber.
"While no one else is using the bathroom, I am going to enjoy a hot shower,
no telling how long before we get to have another one. It's not as if there
are portable hot showers in the jungle is it?" Grinned Face, all ready half
way out the door.
"Mot, hoi, ba, bon, nam, sal, bai, tam, chin, moui. Un, deux, treis, quatre,
cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix. Ekahi, elua, ekolu, eha, elima, eono,
ehiku, ewahu, eiwa, umi. Odin, dva, tri, chetyre, pyat, shest, sem, vosem,
devyat, desyat. Uno, dos, tres.." Murdock counted.
"Ahem, Murdock, what are you doing?" Hannibal asked when he heard Murdock
talking to the door of the bathroom.
"Good morning colonel. I, was, um…., counting." Murdock sheepishly replied.
Hannibal shook his head, 'it's too early for this' he thought to himself.
"Okay Murdock why are you counting and I know I am going to hate myself for
asking."
"Colonel, I told Face he had to the count of ten to get out of the bathroom
and when I counted Face told me it was the wrong language, so I've been
counting to ten in the languages that I know. Vietnamese, French, Hawaiian,
Russian and Spanish." Murdock grinned and rapt the door with his knuckles.
"Come on Face open up."
"Murdock have you tried counting in German?" Hannibal asked. Murdock looked
at him dumbfounded,
"Hannibal why didn't I think of that?" He then turned
his attentions back to the door. "Eins, swai, dri… well it's about time
Faceman, I was about to call the water police." Before Murdock could push
passed Face, Hannibal had already beaten him inside the bathroom and locking
the door.
Not believing that Hannibal would do such a thing Murdock slid down the wall
to sit on the floor, he began counting again. "Better count to at least a
hundred in each language." Face smiled as he strode purposefully out of
Murdock's way.
By the time Murdock was finally done with his shower the water was barely
tepid. He chortled to himself, thinking about the next person who was to
use the shower. His grin suddenly turned to a worried look when he saw that
BA was the next bather.
"Morning BA." Murdock said as he scurried past him.
During breakfast which consisted of bread, rice, fish and nuoc-mam
(fermented fish sauce used as a condiment), Hannibal instructed the platoon
that they had four hours before their transport was to take them back to the
army base.
The morning was spent scouring the local markets for souvenirs to send home
to loved ones and enjoying the celebrations. Face had persuaded Hannibal and
BA to part with some of their hard earned income to go thirds in buying
Murdock a new flight jacket. Face had seen one earlier and knew it would
suit their beloved pilot.
Hannibal and BA also agreed with face when they finally saw it. "Kid why a
tiger design on the back of it?" Hannibal asked, admiring the workmanship of
the jacket.
"Hannibal it is said that the Vietnamese fear the tiger, it is a symbol of a
stalker that is silent and always present." Face replied matter of factly,
recalling what he had read about Vietnamese superstitions. The small man
who had completed the work nodded his head in agreement when he met the
silent question that Hannibal asked with his eyes. BA looked at Hannibal
and shrugged, for all he knew it could be true or Face had conned the
Vietnamese businessman to play along.
After thanking the man and paying him for his fine skill they hurried off to
find Murdock.
"What's the hurry guys?" Murdock asked, steadying himself
after BA had collided into him. After presenting Murdock with the jacket,
the three watched as Murdock proudly put it on. "But guys why? This must
have cost a fortune."
"It did." Grumbled BA. His comment was rewarded with a nudge in the ribs by
Face.
"Murdock it was worth every cent, besides we missed your birthday
consider it a late gift." Smiled Face.
"Yeah Murdock, happy late birthday."
Hannibal also smiled, giving Murdock a congratulatory slap on his back.
"Our ride's here." Face said when he saw the familiar green truck pulling
into town. Hannibal nodded and gestured to the men in his command to make
their way to the truck. During the ride back, Murdock proudly displayed his
new jacket.
"Sure is a beauty Murdock." Zeke said, admiring the
workmanship.
Once back at the base they were met by General Phillips and briefed as to
their next mission. He explained to them that the LRRP had moved in and
taken out the regiment but had located a much bigger stronghold. A NVA base
that was armed to the hilt.
"You will be joined by some new recruits they
need to learn from this mission, it is only a pre-lim to what is in store.
Colonel, I need you to train these new men and this jaunt into the jungle
should enable that. I will see you when you return."
"Great FNG's." Face sarcastically mumbled. The dissention amongst the
platoon at the change of plan and the addition of green recruits was
audible.
"Lieutenant I don't like it any more than you do," Hannibal said
addressing his junior officer, "but if I have to follow orders and like
them, so do you."
"Yeah but Hannibal, I mean colonel…., FNG's? You gotta be kidding." Face
retorted. Hannibal was starting to become more frustrated at the predicament
and tried to resolve the issue.
"Look I'm not interested in having Fucking
New Guys here either, this unit works well as it is, but you heard the
general, it is a pre-lim for what is to come, come on it won't be that
bad…it'll be a walk in the park."
When the new recruits arrived, Hannibal gave them a quick orientation
course.
"Survival," he said, "depends on having what you need, when you
need it. And that gentlemen I suggest you emblazon into your brains now,
forget the crap you learnt at basic training you are here to fight, for your
country and for your lives!" His thunderous voice bounced off the walls of
the makeshift building, causing the new recruits to cringe in their seats.
"Any questions?" He bellowed.
Silence filled the building. Hannibal looked at each man waiting for
someone to open their mouth.
"Well no takers, so I assume that you know
what is expected of you and you are ready to begin your tour."
"Yes sir, colonel sir." Came the unisoned reply. Again silence filled the
room, this time to be broken by Face.
"Colonel, the huey is ready.
Murdock's ready to go when you are."
Hannibal nodded at Face.
"Thank you lieutenant, well don't just sit there,"
he said looking at the new soldiers, "move out."
As they scrambled into the huey, the seasoned soldiers sat at each side of
the doorway with their backs to the walls. The six new recruits were not so
fortunate, those lucky enough got to be in the middle of the doorway while
the others had to hang on for dear life as the Huey's did not have doors.
Holding onto each other they watched as the canopy of the jungle sped by
until their destination was reached.
When airborne Hannibal revised the mission. It was to be a simple search and
destroy operation. Go into an area and search it and then destroy anything
that might be useful to the VC soldiers. Hannibal and his men had performed
the operation many times before, but this time something nagged at him, a
feeling of impending danger.
"Murdock I'll call you when we're through, channel one seven. Take care
Murdock." Hannibal said before exiting the huey, followed by a very seedy
looking BA.
The chopper left after barely touching the ground and was immediately lost
in the cover of the jungle. Hannibal instructed Face to take point and
Johnson to take rear guard. The target area was a two click walk, during
the course of the distance silence was maintained.
Moving through the woods, they looked for signs of the enemy target. By the
time they located the enemy base it was getting dark. Hannibal halted the
platoon and ordered them to take up a position on the edge of the clearing.
When they were close enough Hannibal positioned himself near Face.
He took his night vision glasses and focused on the enemy target. "What the
fuck!" Hannibal exclaimed when he saw it was still being patrolled by
several VC soldiers. Face heard the tone of incredulity in his colonel's
voice.
"Hannibal…., what's up?" Face asked not really wanting to hear the
answer.
"So much for intel…, this place was meant to be deserted, ready for us to
come in and clean it up." Hannibal growled under his breath, not wanting to
alert the rest of the platoon to the problem that had arisen.
"Hannibal how many times have I told you not to trust military intelligence.
Take it from someone who knows, take what they say with a grain of salt.
I was told that I was going to have a nice cushy number running the PX and
look where I get sent." Face said in his con-man charm, trying to alleviate
the tension.
Hannibal looked at him and gave him a crooked smile. "They sent you out here
because you were costing them money, building up your only little supply
store."
"It was surplus stock." Face uttered in his defence.
"Uh huh Face, you
just remember that line, when you're brought up before the Judge Advocate
General, right now I've got bigger fish to fry." Hannibal replied focusing
back on the guarded target area.
When Hannibal had laid out his plan the platoon moved in. Unfortunately one
of the new recruits tripped a claymore, an anti-personnel mine, he was lucky
he died instantly not knowing what hit him. Face recognized the type of
mine and pulled the new recruit beside him down to the jungle floor, while
keeping his M-16 aimed towards the running enemy soldiers.
"Thanks." Uttered the nervous soldier. Face shook off the thanks and
concentrated on what was going on in front of him. Their cover had been
broken and frenzied VC soldiers ran head strong into their direction, taking
the newer recruits by surprise at the ferocity of the attack.
The VC soldiers rushed forward like crazed kamikaze pilots, with their
AK-50's. They thrust their bayonet ended rifles into the unsuspecting new
recruits, who stood there mesmerized at the swiftness of battle. The
closest that many of these soldiers had come to in defence fighting was
firing a few rounds at targets that didn't fight back, that was back on the
outside world, here they learnt a cruel lesson.
Hannibal stole a few moments of precious time to radio Murdock, he needed
some air assistance, enemy soldiers were coming out of the wood work. "Blue
leader, calling red tiger do you read me? Red tiger come in."
"Red tiger to blue leader. Copy." Murdock replied, his voice barely being
heard above the hail of bullets.
"Red tiger, we've got movement in the
wire, we're pinned down. We're taking hits, we need some illumination down
here Murdock, they're coming through the wire. Over.." The culminating
percussion of small arms fire and explosions punctuated the environment of
their position.
The radio crackled to life once more, "Blue leader give me your co-ordinates
and I'll come knocking on their door…over." The faint voice on the other end
said.
"Red tiger grid co-ordinate is GA nine six seven oh one niner
…over!." Hannibal shouted into the PRC.
From the enemy side a battery of 105mm howitzers opened up. Tracers
careened wildly in the night sky, going in a myriad pattern of directions.
Agony filled cries were heard as bullets hit their targets. Castings
clattered as the howitzers fired and a haze of blue smoke drifted across.
"Murdock!" Hannibal shouted, "where the fuck are you? Don't spare the
horses, just get in here now!" Screams amidst the gunfire and shelling
could be heard on Murdock's end of the radio. Hannibal's repsonse was a
pyrotechnic display which illuminated the night sky, at last they had air
support.
The men in the platoon looked at each other, their eyes wide and animated in
the half light. With renewed vigor they returned gunfire, Murdock had
brought with him reinforcements, bringing hope to the soldiers fighting on
the ground.
The sound of the choppers above was wonderful, Murdock had come back in an
AII-1G (cobra) attack chopper, it was armed to the teeth. Dirt fountains
started to appear in front of the VC soldiers, causing the ones not crazy
enough to pursue that battle, to retreat to the shelter of the building.
Within minutes of the air support arriving the target is completely
destroyed along with it, vital documents needed by the military
intelligence. A single rocket was fired at the building turning it into a
pile of splinters, the poor souls caught inside cremated instantly.
"Hannibal? Hannibal? Where are you?" Face shouted into the smoke filled
jungle. He stumbled his way over to the colonel's last sighted position.
"Oh God!" Face said turning Hannibal over. Frantically he felt for
Hannibal's pulse, it was there all be it weak, but it was palpable. Face
found the PRC and radioed Murdock.
"Murdock I need a Dustoff down here! I need it now." Face shouted into the
mouthpiece.
"Hannibal's been hit." He finished more calmly.
Too many times Murdock had heard the all to familiar call for a 'Dustoff',
he'd carried out so many of them he'd lost count. The call was used to
apply to all medical evacuation missions, but GI's reserved the term for
missions flown to pick up wounded soldiers in the filed, often under fire.
"Hang tight Face, I'll get Spinner to get him out." Murdock replied, his own
cobra helicopter being unsuitable for the job. The Huey choppers excelled a
the job of picking up the wounded soldiers, with its wide doors and ability
to get in and out quickly. Dustoffs took courage on the part of the crew -
ground fire was the rule rather than the exception.
BA looked over at Face to see him trying to make the fallen colonel
comfortable.
"How is he man?" BA shouted above the volley of rounds being
fired. Face raised his thumb in an okay signal and picking up his rifle
continued to fire in the direction of the enemy.
"Spinner can you get in there?" Murdock asked over the radio while giving as
much air cover as he could to the men below him.
"Yeah shouldn't be a
problem …those poor son's of bitches are in deep shit down there." Spinner
replied.
"Save the liturgy …., just get in and out as soon as you can ..over."
Murdock radioed as he dropped flares, giving Spinner an idea of where to
head. Murdock knew the move was two fold being both dangerous and life
saving.
"Co*at Face had seen, he was not interested in taking prisoners,
any feelings of remorse that he had for them had gone. What he had
witnessed made him feel that the VC soldiers were less than human.
While BA and Zeke loaded Hannibal and three other wounded soldiers into the
huey, face performed the grim job of collecting the dog tags, he wished that
he could have taken the bodies of his fallen comrades back with him, he
neither had the time nor the room needed on the chopper for that.
All the dead soldiers were killed at close range, most had their throats cut
and all were butchered. Entrails slithered from the mutilated bodies
towards the ground.
'Was it not enough for them to be killed? Why mutilate
their bodies as well?' Face thought to himself, disgusted at what he had
seen. Although he'd seen his friends killed in action before, it still
didn't make this any easier to take. Gasping he reached for a young sapling
and retched until he could no more.
Wiping his mouth he passed from one soldier to the next, collecting their
dog tags and any other personal possession that he could return to the next
of kin. After performing this sad duty he offered a silent prayer of
comfort for their souls and for their families.
"C'mon lieutenant, this bird's about ready to go." Zeke yelled above the
slow churn of the rotors. Face madly scrambled into the huey before it was
to far off the ground.
"Rest in peace." He said, wiping his eyes.
Zeke saw Face's pain and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't get any
easier does it?" Face shook his head and held the bits of metal in his
hand, up into the illuminated wall of the chopper, letting the light reflect
off. Soft murmurs throughout the chopper were heard, each surviving man
offering his own individual prayer.
"Hey kid…" Hannibal coughed, trying to keep the pain he was feeling at bay.
"H-H-Hannibal?" Face asked questioningly, surprised that the colonel was
conscious once more.
"No point getting to sentimental about it … just makes
the pain harder to live with." Hannibal spoke, offering words of comfort to
Face.
"I know Hannibal, …it's just like Zeke said." Face started to say before
Hannibal interrupted.
"It doesn't get any easier does it?" Hannibal
coughed, clenching his teeth in effort to fight the pain. "Let it go kid."
Face looked at Hannibal, here he was hurt, bleeding and in pain and yet
trying to comfort his younger friend.
"Better not clench those teeth too
hard," Face sniffed, "or you'll be having to get a false set made."
Hannibal and Face both looked at each and began to chuckle softly.
Zeke pulled a syrette from his pack. After administering the morphine from
the collapsible tube, Zeke proceeded to check on the wounds that had been
suffered by Horn, Johnson and Harris, the new recruit. With help from BA
the wounds were dressed and the men made comfortable.
"Spinner how long before we land?" Zeke asked, trying to break the eerie
silence that filled the cabin of the helicopter.
"Another ten minutes or so
sergeant, providing we get a clear run back to base." Spinner replied, and
caught the thumbs up understanding from Zeke.
BA edged over to where Face was sitting and tried to disrupt Face from his
all too quiet mood.
"Hey man, there was nothing you could do. It wasn't
your fault." He said softly.
Face looked at him incredulously and shook his head. "BA saying that
doesn't help bring them back does it? We lost some good men back there.
Christ's sake four guys lost their lives on their fucken first mission BA.
And three guys that we've been serving with for the past ten months. It was
my fault BA…." Face's voice was packed with emotion as he turned his head
to look at the passing tree tops, from which the steam could be seen rising
in the early morning light.
"How can you say that Face? It wasn't your fault…it was just one of those
things …you didn't have any control over the outcome, how were you to know
what was going to go down. You got us out of there, you did the best you
could." BA said, looking to Zeke for support.
"My best wasn't good enough though was it? Hannibal would have gotten us
all out alive. He would've had a plan that worked." Uttered Face,
tightening his grasp around the dog tags in held in his hand.
"How do you know that lieutenant?" Zeke retorted, "I'm damned sure that I
couldn't have done any better under the circumstances …pull yourself
together, your in command now. The new guys are scared shitless, they're
going to be looking to you for leadership Face."
Face looked at Zeke and shook his head. "I don't know if I really want the
responsibility any more ….. maybe Murdock has the right idea, coming up with
his crazy antics, so no one knows whether to take him seriously or not." As
he spoke he gripped the dog tags so hard that the edges cut into his hand.
"Have you really thought about that," before giving Face a chance to answer
Zeke continued, "I mean Murdock… is he really crazy? You know there's a lot
of tension in the bush, some need to act crazy, just to remain sane. Maybe
Murdock is one of those people. I know that listening to him chatter helps
to get me through at times."
While reflecting on what Zeke had said, Face saw blood dripping from his
hand. He looked at it as if it were not real, he hadn't felt any pain and
sat mesmerized by the blood pooling in his hand.
"SHIT!" Zeke said, a lot louder than he realized, his exclamation catching
the attention of the rest of the platoon who had been lamenting silently on
their own personal losses.
"Purcell hand me that first aid kit." Zeke ordered, wiping the blood from
Face's hand with a small towel.
"You did a good job on this," Zeke remarked
as Face watched him, "didn't you feel the tags cutting in?"
Face shook his head, still not believing that he had cut the palm of his
hand so deeply.
"No….., I was just holding them, must have been grabbing
them a lot tighter than I thought." Replied Face sheepishly.
"You don't say." Growled BA, accepting the first aid kit from Purcell. He
rummaged through it finding the necessary lotions and a crepe bandage.
Between himself and Zeke they cleaned the wound and wrapped the bandage
around the pressure pad on Face's hand.
"You better see the quack when we
get back to base." Commented BA, taking the blood stained tags and cleaning
them.
As he cleaned each one he read the names; Captain Rusty Wallace, Captain
Randy Lee, private Scott Baker - three men he had spent the last ten months
with, getting to know them a little, sharing times of fear and joy. 'How
soon things change', BA thought to himself.
The four remaining tags still had their newness about them and bore the
names of Alex Shepherd, John Grainger, Steven Doyle and Luis Fox.. "God
guide them on their journeys, give their families strength". The burly
sergeant prayed quietly. Fingering the tags once more he raised them up to
his lips and placed a small, delicate kiss on them.
"Nice BA". Hannibal whispered, then sought out Face. The euphoria of the
morphine giving him the needed time to talk to Face before they landed.
"Lieutenant?" Hannibal mouthed.
Hearing his CO call him, Face twisted his body around to meet Hannibal's
gaze.
"I heard what you said before, and for what it's worth, I couldn't
have gotten everyone out any better than you did. You did your best and
that's all that any one can do under the circumstances. You can only play
the hand your dealt kid." As Hannibal finished speaking, he caught BA's
smile and signaled him to watch over Face.
"Hold on boys and girls, where about to land." Spinner said, guiding the
huey to the illuminated landing site, upon landing, medics rushed from the
side of the building where they had been waiting for the arrival of the
huey.
When the helicopter blades had slowed enough, General Phillips waited near
the door of the helicopter for the platoon to disembark. He saw Hannibal
carried from the helicopter on a stretcher, followed by Horn and Johnson
also on stretchers. Ruiz assisted Harris from the helicopter and helped him
to the infirmary.
"My God!" Phillips uttered. He searched for lieutenant Peck, seeing him he
moved in his direction. "What happened?" He asked, placing his hand on
Face's shoulder.
"Fucken Military intel is what happened!….., sir." Face seethed. Two MP's
had heard the tone Face had used with the general and stepped forward to
intervene.
"Do you wish to press charges general?" The larger of the two
MP's asked.
"No." Phillips answered firmly and ordered the MP's to leave. Face had
continued to walk on while the general was dismissing the MP's, ignoring the
requests for him to stop.
The general gave Face a few minutes to calm down before he decided to catch
up with him.
"Thought this is where I might find you lieutenant." Phillips said trying to
break the tension. Face looked up and then abruptly stood, saluting the
superior officer.
"At ease lieutenant. Care to tell me what that outburst
earlier was about, before I change my mind and have you charged with
insubordination." Phillips asked, beckoning Face to follow him.
"Well lieutenant? An explanation sometime this decade would be nice."
Phillips asked, becoming exasperated by the non verbal replies from the
junior officer.
"Typical intel….. they never get any information right. Seven men were
killed by the VC thanks to incorrect information being handed on yet again!"
Face exploded, finally losing his battle to contain his emotions. He let his
arms drop to his sides, his actions distracting the general's gaze.
"Lieutenant that is the second count of insubordination that I could have
you charged with in as many minutes. I am sure that colonel Smith would be
disheartened to hear of your conduct. I am willing to drop the matter,
provided that there are no further outbursts of this nature." Phillips
cautioned, watching the lieutenant take himself back to an 'at attention'
stance.
"Thank you sir and no sir there will be no more outbursts." Apologized Face.
He continued to stand at attention and waited for the general's next
words.
"Dismissed lieutenant. But I would like you to report to me in my office in
ten minutes, so we can go over this more fully. Go and see how the rest of
the platoon is doing, I'll see them later." Said Phillips, knowing that was
where Face wanted to be right now.
"Thank you sir." Face said and saluted the commanding officer, flinching a
little as he flexed his fingers to the salute formation. "Oh ..and
lieutenant?" Phillips smiled, "you may want to get that hand looked at."
Face returned the smile and hurried off towards the infirmary. Inside he
found BA pacing the corridor while Zeke remained seated by the door.
"Any
word yet?" Face asked, sitting next to Zeke. He heard BA grumble something
about the doctors being busy and his answer from Zeke was a shake of his
head.
One of the nurses saw the blood seeping through the bandage on Face's hand.
"Let me take a look at that for you." She smiled and beckoned him to go with
her.
"It might need a stitch or two." Zeke offered, remembering how Face had cut
his hand.
Face arrived back a short time later, adorned with a new bandage. "How
many?" Zeke asked looking at Face's hand.
"Two." Face replied and gave Zeke a wry smile. He waited a few more minutes
before excusing himself, telling Zeke and BA that the general had requested
to see him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Uh huh." Zeke uttered, "if Hannibal wakes while you're gone I'll tell him
where you are."
BA looked at Face and smirked. "Yeah man, we'll just tell him that
Phillip's finally threw you in the brig."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Face chuckled and hurried off to keep his
appointment, leaving Zeke and BA to wait for any news.
"Lieutenant Peck is here to see you sir." The young secretary informed the
general.
"Thank you corporal, show him in." Replied Phillip's, watching the corporal
exit his office.
She returned momentarily with Face. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?"
She asked surreptitiously flirting with Face.
"Coffee would be great ma'am." Smiled Face, placing his hand on the door,
holding it open for her. "General?" She asked him again, "Can I get you
anything?"
"Just a coffee, black, thank you Su…, corporal." The general replied,
covering his Freudian-slip.
The general's faux-par had not gone unnoticed by Face. He thought best to
keep his comments to himself, being reprimanded twice in one day was enough
for anyone.
As the secretary left she gave Face a subtle wink, causing him to quickly
clear his throat.
"Lieutenant?" Phillips asked, thinking that Face' action was for his
benefit. When Face responded with a surprised look the general knew all to
well that the clearing of Face's throat was not for his benefit but for the
sole purpose of the lieutenant's own actions.
"She is a beauty isn't she?" Smiled Phillips to a stunned Face.
"Sir, yes
s-s-s-sir." Stammered Face, knowing full well he'd been caught. The general
leant across his desk, beckoning Face to lean in to the middle also.
"Susan
is my niece lieutenant. Need I say more?" Astonished by the revelation,
Face sat dumbfounded for a few moments before he found his voice again.
"Sir, fully understood."
"Good, now that we have that out of the way, I would like to go over your
report of what happened in the AO (Area of Operations)." Phillips said,
taking a cigar and leaning back into his chair.
"What can I say … it was a cluster f…" Face started to say before stopping
himself of saying the vulgar word in front of the general.
"I've heard the
term before son, but thank you for saving me from having to hear it first
hand." Phillips smiled and offered Face a cigar. Accepting the cigar Face
continued with his report.
"…..so after landing in the AO which was supposedly clear of all VC
activity, we walked into a fire zone. We finished the job at hand, but not
without paying heavily for it, called in a 'dust off' and the rest as they
say is history." Face said trying to remain calm. "We have to go back and
get the bodies, they deserve a proper burial." Face added, finally handing
over the dogtags from the dead men that he had been holding.
"Understood lieutenant. I have a squad leaving within the hour to collect
the bodies. Thank you for the tags, I will send a personal letter home to
each family. Is there you would like to have added?"
"I think Zeke, sergeant Anderson was going to gather their personal
belongings and have them packaged up to be sent back home." Answered Face,
staring at his bandaged hand.
"Excuse me…coffee is ready. Would you like to, have it now?" Susan asked,
pushing the door open with the trolley. "Yes thank you corporal. Perfect
timing wouldn't you say lieutenant?" Phillips smiled, noticing Face looking
in another direction rather than at his niece.
After the coffees had been drunk. Face excuse himself from the general's
office, saying that he wanted to check in on Hannibal. He made his exit
from the office, avoiding the advance being made to him by Susan.
"Strange fellow." Susan remarked as she collected the emptied cups. She
noticed the hint of amusement in her Uncle's eyes and shook her head. "Tell
me you didn't." She said shaking her head.
"It is for your own good. I don't want the likes of lieutenant Peck
consorting with you. Why you had to choose the army of all military careers
available to you I'll never know. Why didn't you choose to join the navy
like your father and brother?" Phillips retorted, trying to defend his
actions to his niece.
"Because of the same reasons your displaying now. Just once I'd like to
meet a nice decent man as well as have a career for myself but I am finding
it so much harder than I had first expected. Of all the units to get
assigned to I end up at this one." Susan jokingly complained.
"Look, I'm only looking out for your best interests. If I had my choice
you'd be working state side away from all this. I'm sorry you ended up
here, how about we call a truce?"
Susan warily nodded her head. "Talk about a military family….a father who
is an admiral, my brother the lieutenant commander and my uncle a general.
Okay truce." She said, extending her hand. Upon shaking her uncle's hand
she added, "and I get to see whoever I want, off duty?" Knowing he had been
beaten her uncle agreed.
"How is Hannibal, BA?" Face asked, sitting on the chair beside the sergeant
who reminded him of 'Hoss Cartwright' from 'Bonanza'.
"He's getting better,
been improvin' since they brought him back from surgery." BA yawned, barely
able to keep his eyes open.
"I'll sit with him a while. Why don't you go and get something to eat and
have some rest." Face suggested. BA nodded and silently left Face watching
over the colonel.
"Well Hannibal," Face said covering his face with his hands clearing the
tiredness from his eyes, "you were right…., again. Susan is Phillips'
niece. I sure know how to pick 'em. Just glad you're not awake to tell me
'I told you so'."
While sitting with Hannibal, Face picked up one of the military newspapers
and began to read it.
"Anything interesting Face?" Murdock asked, pulling
down on the piece of paper that Face was reading.
"Murdock! When did you get back?" Face asked in amazement. He folded the
newspaper and offered Murdock a chair.
"Just got back in…had to pick up the next shipment of turtles." Murdock
said. Face looked at Murdock suspiciously.
"Okay I know I'm going to hate
myself for asking this but what or who are you referring to as 'turtles'?"
"New guys." Came a hoarse reply from the bed. Both Face and Murdock looked
tot he direction from which the voice had come.
"Hannibal!" They both said
in unison.
"No it's jolly old Saint Nick, of course it's me….., who else were you
expecting?" Hannibal coughed and then chuckled softly at the two somber
faces in front of him.
Face quickly grabbed the flask of water and poured Hannibal a small drink.
"Just sip it slowly." He instructed. "How did you know what 'turtles'
were?"
As Hannibal slowly sipped his drink, Murdock answered Face's question. "The
new replacements are called 'turtles' 'cause it takes 'em so long to
arrive."
"Uh huh…, should've known. It's been one of those mornings." Sighed Face,
turning his attention back to Hannibal.
"Found out she was his niece huh kid?" Hannibal smiled, knowing that he had
hit upon one of Face's dilemmas.
"You could say that." Smirked Face,
recalling the conversation he'd had earlier with the general. "How's your
shoulder feel?" Face added trying to divert the conversation.
"Can't feel much…they must have me pretty doped up on painkillers. My ribs
hurt like hell though." Replied Hannibal, trying to get himself into a more
comfortable position.
"Who are the new recruits Murdock?" Hannibal asked as he accepted Face's
offer of another pillow.
"A lieutenant Myron Goldman and corporal Marcus Taylor. They've both been
assigned to your platoon." Murdock answered, "Oh and I've warned them to
back anything they say to Face with money."
"Cute Murdock." Face responded a little chastised. Hannibal pulled Murdock's
hand close to him.
"Murdock your part of the platoon too, don't you forget
that."
"Hey colonel I know that…but when I'm up there in my bird, it's like a
different world. It's like I believe I can fly. You know that's a good name
for a song title." Smiled Murdock, catching Face's expression.
"You're nuts Murdock." Face retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Hang on a minute
Face, I think Murdock may have something there…., a few more lyrics you
could have a top seller Murdock." Hannibal grinned, enjoying how much he
was beginning to irk Face.
"Aw Hannibal, don't go encouraging him. You know what happened last time
when he tried to sell back the general's golf balls to him. Why anyone
would want to play golf is beyond me…, chasing little white balls all over
the greens and trying to sink them in holes." Complained Face.
The laughter was broken by a heavy set nurse carrying a laden tray. "Good
to see our patient is feeling better. You two plan on sticking around while
I give the colonel his sponge bath?"
"Uh no thanks, I'll see you later Hannibal." Murdock said, grimacing at the
frightening tone of the nurse.
"Me too, I had better get going and check on
BA." Face stammered, backing away from the nurse.
Before he could move to far she reached out and grabbed his arm.
"Y'all
tell BA that I said hello okay sugar. Boy I swear you're gettin' skinny.
You need to get some meat on dem bones. You knows I likes my men big and
strong."
"I'll remember that and I'll tell BA you said hello." Face said, breaking
free from the nurses strong grasp. "Enjoy your bath Hannibal."
"Oh I will kid. Hey bring back a radio or an up to date newspaper when you
come back again. Tell BA I said hello as well." Hannibal smiled as he
waved goodbye to Face.
As Face hurried out the door he heard the nurse commenting on how skittish
he was. The comment was followed by raucous laughter.
Face had caught up with Murdock just outside the infirmary.
"Well I suppose
that I'd better go and introduce myself to the new replacements and show
them the layout of this place." Face said, placing his arm on Murdock's
shoulder.
Murdock stopped abruptly causing Face to trip.
"Ah Face, don't you mean that
you want to relieve them of any monetary assets that they may have by
inviting them to a poker game?"
Face feigned a hurt look. "Murdock, how long have we known each other? I'm
surprised that you could think such a thing."
"I'm not." Zeke retorted, having finally caught up with Face. "You know the
first time I met you, you were as I recall trying to relieve me of some
funds, by inviting me to a card game in your cell. As it was it cost me an
extra guard duty for accepting your offer, not to mention two hundred
bucks."
While Face remained still trying to present himself as the epitome of
innocence, Zeke and Murdock reveled at his discomfort.
"Are we going to
stand here all day or are we going to meet the new replacements?" Face at
last asked.
Murdock and Zeke both shrugged and followed Face to the general's office.
They waited outside enjoying the fresh morning air while the general
finished welcoming the new arrivals. When the door to the office opened the
general called Face, Zeke and Murdock forward and carried out the
introductions.
"You'll be bunking in here." Face gestured as he led Myron and Taylor to the
billet. "Stow your gear and then come over to the mess. I'll introduce you
to the rest of the platoon there." Face dismissed both the new recruits and
made his way over to the mess accompanied by Zeke and Murdock.
As they entered the mess they were greeted by BA and the rest of the
platoon. "How's the colonel, Face?" BA asked pushing past one of the
members of the platoon.
"He's doing okay but not overly happy at the prospect of being out of the
field for a week. By the way Katy was wanting to pass on her well wishes
for you. If I didn't know better I'd say that woman has a soft spot for
you." Face smiled at BA's growing uneasiness.
During coffee and breakfast the new replacements were introduced to the rest
of the platoon. Conversation was light and stemmed mainly around interests
and family. During the course of the light hearted conversation general
Phillips and his aide appeared.
The platoon quickly stood to attention, acknowledging his presence. "As you
were." The general said as he stood in front of them. "I know you're still
coming to terms with what has happened and that your CO is in the infirmary,
but we need to press on. We have been receiving help from the local VC
resistance and now is the time for us to help them."
As the general spoke he gained the full attention of everyone present. He
laid out the plan in full detail of what he wanted the platoon to accomplish
and appointed Face as the CO while Hannibal was recuperating.
"I want you all to be ready to move out at 0500 hours tomorrow. I suggest
that you get in as much rest as you can today. Dismissed." General Phillips
finished, before signaling to Face to join him.
The next morning was overcast as Face made his way over to the infirmary.
Katy was on duty and approached him as he entered. "Hannibal's sleepin'. Do
you want me to wake him?"
Face shook his head. "No thanks, just tell him when he wakes that I said
hello and that we should be back in a few days." He watched Hannibal's
chest rise and fall in peaceful slumber, before turning to leave.
After landing at the designated site, Murdock bid his passengers goodbye and
told Face to be careful. "Sure Murdock, just don't you forget to come and
pick us up again." Face laughed as he too disembarked.
It wasn't long before the team came across the village as pin pointed on
their map. One of the local villagers had decided to do more than just
provide the enemy locations whenever he could, he'd also chosen to take up
sniping on NVA troops.
As the team began the arduous task of relocating the entire village some
twenty clicks away, one of the villagers refused to go on the grounds of
religious beliefs. Face and Zeke both tried reasoning with the elderly papa
San farmer and in the end called upon the man's granddaughter to help.
After several hours the elderly man conceded and packed his meager
possessions, joining the rest of the villagers.
BA had directed Harris and Taylor to check the stores for and food that
could be transported and for Purcell and Ruiz to tether the cattle together.
When BA was sure that there was nothing else worth salvaging he informed
Face of what he had done and waited further instruction.
Face and Zeke both looked over the map and the relocation zone that they had
been given while everyone waited with bated anticipation of the move. The
trek to the new settlement would be long and tiring and the best possible
route had to be used. The map showed rugged mountain terrain which was
passable.
"Do you think they will be able to make the journey?" Zeke asked looking at
the handful of elderly villagers who were a respected part of the community.
"They'll have to, they don't really have a choice." Face glumly replied,
knowing what Zeke was thinking. Without wanting to waste what was left of
the precious day light hours Face gave the command to move out.
Two days into the journey they came across a burned out village of
Montagnards. A Vietnamese tribe of mountain people that had inhabited the
mountain area that the platoon and homeless villagers were now in. The
travelling villagers offered prayers for the lost souls while the platoon
searched for any signs of life.
After seeing so many slaughtered bodies, all hope was given up of finding
anyone alive. Zeke was searching one of the last huts to be checked when he
heard the strained cries of a small child.
"Me, me." The child cried for her mother. What Zeke saw bought tears to his
eyes. The child of no more than ten months was trying to suckle at her
mothers breast, trying to gain attention from her dead mother. As he fought
back his emotions, thinking about his own girls back in the States, he
gathered the baby in his arms and wrapped a blanket around her.
"Zeke? Zeke where are you?" Face called unable to locate the sergeant in his
command. He heard a muffled reply a short distance from where he was walked
in the direction from where it came.
"What have you here?" Face asked seeing the baby in Zeke's arms. He also
noticed Zeke casually wipe tears from his eyes as he held the young child up
for Face to see. "Another victim of this bloody senseless war." Face said be
fore Zeke could answer him.
"Yeah. Her mother's on the other side of the room. She was trying to feed
from her mother …., by the looks of her I'd say she hasn't had a meal in two
maybe three days." Zeke answered cradling the baby closer to his own chest.
"Well she's not going to find anything there, unless you're not telling me
something." Face laughed, seeing the baby root around Zeke's chest, looking
for any signs of a feed. Zeke could not help but laugh at the situation and
quickly assured Face that he was not hiding anything from him.
"Maybe one of the villagers will care for her." Face suggested hopefully,
rubbing the baby's cheek with the back of his fingers. "They have a dairy
cow out there, wonder if the milk bar's open yet." He added, looking around
for something to use as a bottle.
"It's worth a shot…., at this stage this young lady has nothing to lose."
Agreed Zeke also hoping that one of the villagers may take over caring for
the child.
They emerged from the building to find the rest of the platoon waiting for
them and the villagers still in a state of shock of witnessing the
devastation of lost lives. They all turned when they heard the young baby
crying.
One of the villagers stepped froward from the group and held her arms out
towards Zeke.
"Xin vu long mote gai?", she asked. Zeke looked towards Face to obtain a
translation on what was being asked.
"It's all right, she has asked if she can hold the baby. I think our
worries are over." Face smiled, motioning for Zeke to let the woman hod the
baby.
"Ca'm o-n nhienu." The woman replied thanking Zeke. Saving Zeke from a
possibly embarrassing reply Face answered her.
"Khong co chi."
"You're certainly handy to have around. Can you order take -aways too?"
Zeke asked Face as the woman turned and walked back to where her people were
standing.
"My Vietnamese is limited to asking for the necessities and then
it is not the best." He added while Face was softly chuckling.
They watched silently as the woman spoke to her fellow villagers about the
baby. They all turned and smiled at Face and Zeke and held the baby aloft.
One of the women rummaged through her personal belongings and located a
pouch feeding bottle, similar to those used by the North American Indians.
Within a few minutes enough milk had been milked from the cow to satisfy the
baby's insatiable thirst. After the baby had been fed and cleaned she
settled contentedly in the makeshift cradle that had been fashioned for her
and was placed in it on the back of the team of oxen.
The soldiers in Face's command spent several minutes with the help of the
Vietnamese refugees burying the dead before moving on to their awaiting
destination.
******
"Good morning colonel. How are you feeling today?" General Phillips asked
as he neared Hannibal's bed. Startled buy the unexpected visit Hannibal
maneuvered himself into a sitting position.
"Tony…, what brings you by this way?" Coughed Hannibal. Before answering
him, Philips handed Hannibal a glass of water. "Your nurse tells me that
you've been asking questions about the mission I sent Peck and his patrol
on."
Hannibal nodded sheepishly. "It's just that no one has said anything and by
--" Before he could say any more Phillips finished his sentence.
"And you're wanting to know when they were last heard from. Well the last
transmission that was received was late yesterday afternoon, saying that
they had gotten the villagers safely to their new home along with one
extra."
"One extra?" Hannibal asked, his eyebrows raised with intrigue. He motioned
for Phillips to drag the chair over and make himself comfortable.
"It seems that lieutenant Peck and sergeant Anderson came across a village
ransacked by the NVA with all but one of the occupants dead. A young baby
survived the brutal assault and before you ask, yes they did place the baby
with the refugee villagers."
Hannibal smiled contentedly at the news, and knew that his unit would be
back soon, now that the villagers had been relocated.
***
The return journey for Peck's team passed without incident and after a days
walk through the mountainous region they reached the designated landing
zone. BA had previously radioed Murdock and now it was simply a matter of
waiting before being airlifted back to base.
To pass the time Zeke took a notebook from his pack and started to write.
"Writing home?" Face asked as he leaned against a tree.
"Huh?" Zeke replied, unsure whether he had heard the lieutenant talk to him
or whether he was just imagining it.
"I only asked if you were writing home." Face smiled as he let his own
thoughts drift a while.
"Yeah. That baby back there got em thinking. I've been mean to find the
time to write more than a few lines to my girl. The last photo I got of
them, showed me what I had been missing out on. Would you like to see it?"
Zeke asked as he produced the photo.
Face leaned across and accepted the photo. Zeke had sealed it in a small
plastic bag, protecting it from the elements.
"She's a wonderful looking
girl." Face said as he looked at the picture of Zeke's daughter holding a
home made sign saying 'I love you daddy'. She was dressed in a embroidered
dress that had smocking along the bodice. And held a small doll that Zeke
had sent as a gift.
"How was your last trip back to 'the world'?" Face asked, handing back the
photograph.
"It didn't go to well. My wife asked me for a divorce. Said that she
couldn't handle it with me being over here, not knowing whether I was going
to come home in one piece or not. Guess I knew a few months back when she
dropped hints through her letter to me. It all came to a head when I did
get time to go and see her and my daughter. There were clothes in the
wardrobe that weren't mine." Zeke spoke quietly so no one else could hear.
Face kept his own voice to little more than a whisper. "I'm sorry…I didn't
know things were so.." Before he could finish Zeke interrupted him.
"Don't worry about it. I managed to sort a few things out before leaving to
return here, we agreed that when the time is right for me to return we will
share joint custody of our daughter. Besides I had to come back to make sure
that you stayed out of trouble." Zeke smiled at Face.
"Heads up…here's our ride." Face said, hearing the familiar whump of the
chopper blades.
"Hey Murdock it's great to see you." Face beamed as he clambered aboard,
stowing his gear out of the way.
"You too Faceyman…. It makes a change not having to be coming in for a dust
off. Better buckle up back there…, we came across some heavy fire on the
ride over here. It could get a little bumpy." Murdock said, returning the
smile that had been bestowed upon him.
As Murdock had warned the return flight back to base was indeed bumpy, with
howitzer shells narrowly missing the chopper.
Face continued to watch from his position in the chopper as Murdock
skillfully guided the chopper through the maze of smokes plumes from spent
shells, the paling face of BA caught his attention.
"BA?" Face gingerly asked, watching BA clasp his hands more tightly around
the stock of his rifle. When BA nodded an acknowledgement to the
lieutenant, Face returned to his previous position and rested his weary body
against the wall of the chopper.
"He doesn't travel so well does he?" Zeke asked, leaning across closer to
Face so that his voice did not carry in the small compartment.
Face flashed one of his famous grins at Zeke. "Just don't mention the
possibility of crashing." Leaving Zeke to ponder his last statement Face
watched as the tops of the trees from the jungle below sped past.
The remainder of the flight was spent in silent thought, each man reliving
what he had witnessed, the brutal attacks and destruction of a village of
people and the acceptance of the newborn by the villagers that they had
helped relocate.
Murdock's voice boomed throughout the cabin. "That concludes your flight
with HM airlines, please have your tickets ready for processing when you
disembark."
"Hey, L tee, we've landed." Zeke said, gently nudging Face's arm.
"Oh yeah, yeah thanks Zeke." Replied Face, a hint of remorsefulness in his
voice.
Zeke moved from the chopper, slinging his back pack over his shoulder, he
grabbed Face's backpack and waited for him to emerge from the huey.
Waiting at the landing pad to meet them was Hannibal, seated in a
wheelchair, being attended to by a young nurse. He tried to stand up to
welcome back his team but was forced to remain seated when the young nurse
applied pressure to his shoulder.
As the soldiers from the returning platoon gathered their belongings they
saluted him as they passed by him on their way to their barracks. The last
ones to come into his line of vision were a very pale looking BA followed by
a boisterous Murdock and a very subdued looking pair - namely Face and Zeke.
Hannibal allowed himself to be wheeled towards the debriefing room, but was
anxious to find out what had caused Face to become so somber.
During the quick yet intense debriefing Hannibal's silent questions were
answered. 'How much more do they have to see and be a part of?' He thought
to himself, recalling the horrors that he had previously seen in another war
in another time.
Following the debriefing General Phillips dismissed the men in front of him
and suggested that they may like to freshen up with a hot shower before
packing into a good meal.
Face and Zeke once again stood at attention and saluted their commanding
officer before obeying his last directive.
After enjoying the warm water caress his back, like magic fingers finding
every ache and massaging them to they were no longer felt, Face quickly
toweled off and dressed. He was met outside the ablutions by an irate
looking corporal who was easily twice his size.
"'bout time you got out! There isn't that much hot water in this shit hole
of a camp and certainly not enough to waste on an upstart little prick like
you!" The corporal lashed out at him, striking him hard in his ribs as he
did so.
Taken aback by the outburst from the lout of a corporal Face, dropped his
toiletries and pinned the burly man up against the shower wall. Holding him
there with his right forearm under his neck while he held his ribs with his
left hand.
"Who the hell do you think you are? What do you think that these bars
mean?!" Face snapped, pulling the towel away that was draped around his
neck.
BA who had been walking to the ablutions block saw the confrontation going
on between Face and the corporal. "Is everything all right lieutenant?" BA
asked.
"This has nothing to do with you sergeant!" The corporal retorted, trying to
squirm out of Face's stranglehold.
"Hey easy Face, you don't want to kill this piece of .." before BA could
finish his words of caution to Face, he heard a low moan escape from the
corporal's lips.
"Christ! You're them, you're part of the A-Team….I didn't realize, if I had
known.." The corporal stammered, not knowing where to look or what to say.
In his direct line of vision was the angry face of the lieutenant and to his
left the sullen face of the sergeant who was of equal stature to himself.
"So what you really mean is that had you known who we were you would have
ignored the issue about the hot water, but had it been someone else you
would have been quite content to throw your weight around?" Face questioned,
keeping his voice on a level tone and restraining the urge to pound the
arrogant corporal into an unrecognizable figure.
"Somehow I think by the time I've finished with you you're going to be in
more hot water than you would have dreamed possible." Face continued,
secretly enjoying the way that the corporal was sweating.
Plucking up a bit of Dutch courage the corporal spoke. "You wouldn't hit a
corporal would you?"
BA moved in closer to the corporal and when his own face was centimeters
from that of the corporal he replied,
"You've got to be kidding, he'd hit an
old woman." Of course both BA and Face knew that wasn't true but it did
give them both a deal of satisfaction seeing the man in front of them suffer
a taste of his own medicine.
"BA, go on in and get your shower, have an extra long one….I don't think the
corporal here is in too much of a hurry for his shower any more. Are you
corporal?" Face said directing his words to the quivering corporal.
"No problem Face, just yell if you need me." BA said smiling as he left the
two men, he hummed to himself as he entered the showers.
It was a while before BA finally caught up with Face. "Hey Face, what
happened with that corporal?"
"The general was so pissed at his actions, that he was busted from being a
corporal down to a private, apparently it was not the first time that he had
pulled that stunt, to cut a long story short, he's been relieved of duty and
scheduled for further review. By the time Phillip's is through with him the
only assignment he'll be able to pull is sweeping the general's office."
Face grinned contentedly.
"It's enough that we've got an enemy to fight we don't need any of that shit
to deal with as well." BA growled, pummeling a fist into the palm of his
hand.
"Forget it BA, I have …for now." Face shrugged as he walked towards the mess
tent. "Coming?" He called out to BA.
"Sure…., hey what did you mean that you've forgotten it for now?"
"BA don't worry about it…the jerk just advised me to watch my back, maybe he
should watch his mouth." Face laughed.
Not dismissing what Face had said, BA followed him to the mess tent.
Grabbing their trays, BA starting filling his with what could once have been
classed as animal, vegetable or mineral.
"You're braver than I thought." Chuckled Face as he sat down opposite BA who
was dousing his dinner with tomato sauce.
"Whaddya mean?" BA asked, reaching for the salt.
Face shook his head and began to eat his own meal. After they had eaten
they were joined by the other members from their platoon.
Gathered around the table they swapped stories and jokes while they relaxed
in each other's company. Silence fell over the room as General Phillip's
entered.
Noting his presence everybody instinctively stood to attention. "At ease
gentlemen." Phillips spoke his tone one of casualness.
"…….., And after lieutenant Peck has put you all through some PT and himself
included," Phillips said noting the whimsical looks on the platoons faces at
the mention of Peck's name, "I will clear you from duty for three days. You
are on stand down and are permitted to leave the base. But your whereabouts
must be informed to either my secretary or to myself."
Phillips watched intently at the broad smiles trying to break through the
rugged exterior of each man in his command. Unable to maintain a straight
face himself he cleared them from attention.
"Dismissed." He said. No
sooner had he said dismissed than whoops of joy echoed around the mess hall.
"Don't forget the PT exercise lieutenant." Phillips reminded Face as he
turned and left the building.
"Uh huh." Grumbled Face when Phillips was out of ear shot. "One hell of a
welcome isn't it?" Face said to Myron and Taylor. They both nodded in the
affirmative, still shocked from the announcement.
Neither had expected to have a furlong so soon, but did not complain all the
same.
As time passed, Face motioned for everyone to don their packs and complete
the short exercise.
"But guys make sure you look like you've done some work
by the time we get back, or Phillips will send out a drill instructor with
us to make sure we've done what we're meant to."
They set off at a moderate pace but soon dropped it back to a more leisurely
pace when they were clear of the base. On their return they were singing
their cadence so that everyone kept in time. As they rounded the general's
office they were still chanting.
"I can barely move my legs….Do me a favour kill me now…,
Something, something rhymes with legs
I don't care my life's over anyhow….
Sound off 1,2,3,4.."
Phillips smiled as the platoon went passed. "If Peck put them through their
paces I'm a monkey's uncle". He said to himself.
"Pardon general?" His aide
asked him, unsure if he was talking to him or not. Phillips shook his head
and smiled.
"Just talking to myself son."
Before they left the base to go into the local town, Face, BA and Murdock
stopped by to say goodbye to Hannibal.
"Really wish you could come with
us." Murdock said, looking very forlorn at the prospect of having sometime
to unwind without him being present.
"Who says I can't go with you lot…someone has to watch out for you."
Hannibal gleamed as he through back the bedcovers, revealing that he was
already dressed to go with them.
"Hannibal that's great, are you sure that you are feeling up to it?" Face
asked enthusiastically.
"Kid, do you remember what happened the last time I let you go on R & R
without my supervision?" Hannibal jibed Face, enjoying the look on his face
as he recalled the past events.
"Uh, well since you put it that way…" Face began to say.
"Glad you see it like that kid, now give me a hand up." Hannibal grinned.
Three hours after arriving in the small town, the soldiers from Hannibal's
team had managed to get themselves involved with a scuffle with members of
a marine unit stationed near the town, who were drunk and disorderly.
Within ten minutes of the scuffle starting it had grown into a fully fledged
bar room brawl. MP's made their way through the onlookers and duly went
about their duties.
Hannibal's squad were all placed under arrest and transported back to the
base. Their three days of R & R cut short, each man sporting an array of
bruises, all colours and shapes and all feeling rather sorry for themselves.
It was when they were all placed in t the brig that Hannibal let the thought
of the consequences of the platoons actions set in. Mulling on this thought
he curled up on the bunk under the one that face had laid claim to and
closed his eyes.
The next morning they were awoken to the sound of the general's bellowing
voice.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE PLAYING AT LAST NIGHT. I GAVE YOU ALL
THREE DAYS LEAVE AS I THOUGHT YOU HAD EARNED IT, BUT YOU OBVIOUSLY DECIDED
IT WASN'T NEEDED AFTER ALL. HAD I KNOWN THAT YOU WERE KEEN ON GETTING BACK
TO THE TRENCHES I WOULD HAVE SENT YOU THERE INSETEAD!"
"Impressive, all those words and he didn't take a breath." Face mused
quietly to himself, unfortunately for Face not quiet enough.
The general made his way to where Face was standing. "DO YOU CARE TO REPEAT
YOURSELF LIEUTENANT?" Phillips growled, emphasizing each syllable as he
spoke.
When Face did not answer, Phillips quickly reminded him of the two previous
charges of misconduct that he had up to now overlooked. "Well Lieutenant, I
am waiting for an answer!"
"No sir." Face answered solemnly.
"Pardon lieutenant?" Phillips questioned unsure whether he had heard
correctly. Hannibal cringed at Face's aloof behaviour, fearing the worst.
"Sir! No sir!" Face replied, acknowledging the question directed at him. "I
do not wish to repeat myself."
Taken aback by Face's stance and his gumption to play the general at his own
game of questions, Phillip's let a small smirk show, as quickly as it came
it had vanished. He walked back to where Hannibal still stood at attention.
"Well Colonel what do you have to say about your platoon's behaviour?"
"Exemplary sir." Hannibal replied, his eyes remaining focused on a small
part of the wall behind Phillips' head.
"And why would you say that it was exemplary colonel. You're men are all in
the brig. Do you see any of the marines in here with them.?"
"No sir, I believe that they are all in the infirmary." Hannibal said,
keeping a straight face.
"Exemplary indeed!" Phillips said, giving Hannibal a sly wink. "Dismissed."
He said so that all could hear his command. Turning to the guards he asked
that they release the prisoners from custody.
"Colonel Smith, I expect to see you in my office within five minutes, I
suggest that you not be late."
"Yes General." Hannibal replied and nodded in the affirmative.
Face was the last one to exit the cell, his way being hindered by one of the
big burly guards.
"I have some words of advice for you…" he started to say.
"Oh let me guess," Face said, a devilish gleam creeping into his eyes, "your
advice for me would be for me to watch my back. Say you must be related to
the louse I had busted down to a private."
"All the same…., just watch your back!" Snapped the guard.
"My, my is that a threat?" Face questioned, standing so close to the guard
that a fine piece of paper could not have passed between them. "You really
should learn to brush." Face bantered as the guard breathed into his face.
"Yeah and you should learn to shut your face, or someone may just shut it
for you!" Snapped the guard, finding it hard to remain as calm as Face was.
Outside BA was wondering what was keeping Face and called out to him. "Is
everything all right in there?"
"It sure is BA," Face replied, "Just teaching this guard some manners."
Then in a quiet voice so that only the guard could hear, he continued, "I'm
quite willing to dismiss the difference in our ranks and deal with this man
to man, but I guess that won't happen unless you can find a man to act on
your behalf."
The last comment hit the rage ridden sergeant like a ton of hot bricks.
Without warning he threw Face backwards into the cell wall. The back of
Face's head hitting the wall with a resounding thud. The guard reached down
and pulled Face to a standing position, grabbed the collar of Face's shirt
with his left hand and punched in his right eye with his balled fist,
recoiling and striking again.
Face returned the attack with a sharp thrust of his knee into the sergeant's
groin, causing him to collapse on the floor of the cell, clutching his
manhood and writhe in pain.
With the noise of a body hitting the floor, BA rushed into the cell,
surprised to see Face still standing albeit a little on the unstable side,
but standing all the same.
"Face are y'all right man? You want me to get Hannibal?" BA asked,
concerned not only for Face's well being but also anxious that this attack
could have an unwanted aftermath for the lieutenant.
"Nah, don't worry about it BA, I think this piece of scum has learnt his
lesson for now, if not I'll be sure to come and reinforce it later."
"Y-y-y-you'll get yours!" The fallen sergeant hissed.
"As I said before I'm willing to settle this man to man…but I guess that
won't be happening in the near future will it?" Face smiled, reaching his
hand out to grasp BA's arm to steady himself.
Face jerked his head, gesturing to BA that they should leave the cell. BA
nodded and supported Face as they left the cell. As they walked away from
the cell, BA directed Face in the direction of the infirmary.
Wanting to get some fresh air before heading into the sterile smell of the
infirmary, Face sat on a bench near the door.
"What happened to you?" Zeke asked as he saw Face sitting with his head
between his legs, holding a towel to his face, while BA held a clean cloth
to the back of his head.
BA took the opportunity to leave Face with Zeke while he sought out a nurse
and ignored Face's protests.
"I'll be back in a minute…,just watch he
doesn't go trying to pull any more of them stupid stunts. I'm gonna find
someone to have a look at his head or what's left of it."
Face and Zeke were slowly gathering an audience while BA went in search of
the nurse. It wasn't long after before word got round the base that Face
had been involved in a fight.
"Come in." Phillips replied when he heard a knock on his door.
"Reporting as ordered sir." Hannibal spoke, standing at attention.
"At ease John, have a seat." Phillips smiled trying to ease the tension in
the room. "Before I tell you what I ordered you here for, I must say I
don't condone the bar-room brawling but I did admire the way you had the
nerve to say that your platoon's actions were exemplary. You understand of
course why I could not show that before." He said, offering Hannibal a peace
token in the form of a cigar.
"Yes sir." Hannibal grinned accepting the peace offering.
"John, I know I fell for Peck's way out of repeating himself with the open
question, but can you just get him to let me win one round occasionally."
Phillips laughed.
After a couple of minutes the general explained to Hannibal what he had
summoned him for. "We've got a situation …."
Before he could explain further to Hannibal the general's telephone rang.
"Phillips."
"Yes sir….. he's with me now sir." Phillips said raising his eyes to look at
Hannibal.
"We lost a few men, so I'll need to get replacements first."
"I see…., no sir…., it won't be a problem. I'll have Lieutenant Peck and
Sergeant Anderson taken to select suitable replacements."
At this last statement Hannibal raised his eyebrows in a questioning glance.
'Why
he sending Face and Zeke' he thought to himself. He placed the cigar
in his mouth and sat back in the chair while Phillip's finished his
conversation.
"We will be there as soon as we can." Phillips replied, this time looking at
Hannibal and mouthing 'you and me'.
"Until then sir." The general said before he hung up the phone.
After he replaced the receiver on the hook Phillips gave a small shudder
and focused his attentions back on Hannibal.
"Our presence is requested at 'MAC' (Military Assistance Command), we leave
within the hour. As you heard in the conversation I will be sending Peck
and Anderson to get the best of the best recruits. The mission that we have
on will require skilled men, no time for FNG's as you put it." Phillips
spoke with sincerity, smiling when he said FNG's.
Hannibal stood and talked with the general while he made his way over to the
door. As he reached the door, it opened, nearly hitting him as it swung
inward.
"Sir, I apologize for the intrusion, but sergeant Baracus would like to
speak with you and colonel Smith." Susan uttered, realizing that she had
almost hit Hannibal with the door.
"By all means, send him in." Phillips acknowledged. He motioned for
Hannibal to stand by him, allowing Baracus room to enter.
"What is it sergeant?" Phillips asked, noticing the furrowed look on BA's
face. Hannibal, too, also picked up on this and waited for the inevitable
outcome.
BA stood at attention, looked first at Phillips then to Hannibal before
relaying what had taken place.
"Face, I mean lieutenant Peck was attacked in
the cell block after we were released from custody. He didn't want to press
charges, must have been the knock on the head, but I think that something
should be done, sir."
Before Phillips could ascertain further as to what had happened, Hannibal
was asking BA if Face was all right. BA shrugged huis shoulders and gave a
'don't ask me I ain't a nurse' look.
"Who was the man that attacked the lieutenant, sergeant?" Phillips
inquested, having his own suspicions as to who it could be, after hearing
about the last scuffle that had taken place, between Peck and the corporal
who had been busted in rank.
"Sir, it was sergeant Stauffer." BA answered honestly.
"And the injuries sustained by Peck?" The general asked, upon learning that
it was the man that he had held his own suspicions about.
"I'm not sure about Stauffer, the last I saw of him he was lying on the
floor of the cell, complaining that the lieutenant had kicked him in the
balls." Replied BA nonchalantly, he continued keeping his voice level, as to
not show any prejudice emotion.
"I took the L-tee, to the infirmary and left him there with sergeant
Anderson. He took a hit to the back of his head, which was bleeding quite a
lot and …, well, his right eye doesn't need any camouflage on it to make it
look dark." BA let a small grin escape when he revealed the last of Face's
injuries.
Hannibal grimaced when he heard BA say that Face had received another black
eye, and again to the right eye. "Ahhhh…, not the right eye again." He
muttered quietly to himself.
"Thank you sergeant, I trust that you will sign a document to attest to
these claims you have made." Phillips said, making his question into more of
a statement.
Hannibal excused himself and left Phillips and BA filling out the necessary
paper work to have Stauffer officially charged.
"Zeke would you quit pressing so hard on the back of my head, I already have
the mother of all headaches without you giving me all her daughters as
well!" Face snapped, trying to pull Zeke's hand away.
Changing his position so that Face could not grab at his hand, Zeke
continued to hold the blood soaked cloth next to Face's head. "Look you're
gonna have to go and get this stitched man, there's way to much blood."
"Yeah I guess you're right, I'm not feeling so good right now." Face
admitted, accepting help from Zeke to walk into the infirmary.
They were met by Sarah, the heavy set nurse that had told him that she liked
her men big and strong, the last time that he was in the infirmary as a
visitor.
"So sugar, what have you been doin' to yourself? Who's did this to you
Faceman?" Katy asked, using the lieutenant's nickname that she'd heard a few
of his friends call him before. She talked with him while she led him to an
examination table.
Face gave her a perplexed look as she spoke his name that the team had
christened him with in a baptism of fire. He shook his head, then decided
that it was not one of the wisest things to do at this present point in
time.
Katy looked questioningly at Zeke, who shrugged his unspoken reply back to
her. She nodded to Zeke and continued to clean the wound. She gestured for
Zeke to come and hold the gauze pad in place while she prepared the suture
tray and a small local anesthetic.
"Thanks for your help," Katy said to Zeke, taking the soiled swab from him.
"Now do you think you can hold him still long enough for me to put in a
couple of stitches?"
Zeke assisted Face to the stool that Katy had found for him, within the few
steps that it took Face to reach the stool, Zeke had to tightly grasp his
arm as he was very unsteady on his feet.
"This is going to hurt a bit," cautioned Katy as she administered the local
anesthetic.
"Jesus!" Face hissed through clenched teeth as he felt the needle go in.
"Well I have been called a lot of things lieutenant, but have never been
called Jesus." Hannibal smiled as he approached Face. He looked over Face's
shoulder at how big the cut was to the back of his head.
Looking at Katy, Hannibal smiled. "Two stitches?" He asked, seeing her
prepare the suture needle.
"Hannibal, I swear you've been spending too much time round here…., maybe I
could have you trained up as a surgeon." Katy grinned, enjoying the moment
of camaraderie with the renown colonel.
"Did BA send you over here?" Face winced as he felt the dull sensation of
the needle going through his scalp.
Hannibal stood in front of Face looking down at him, he did look a sorry
sight. He could see the bruise and swelling quickly forming around his eye
and sighed. "Kid you really should learn to turn the other way, that's the
second time you've let someone clobber you in your right eye."
"For your information I did not let that son of a bitch hit me, it was
unprovoked…" Face began to say before Hannibal interrupted.
"Look kid, I know you didn't provoke Stauffer, his sort don't need much of
an excuse, but it does not excuse what he did and from all accounts I
believe this is not the first time that you've had trouble lately with
Stauffer or his low life associate." Soothed Hannibal, while he watched
Face's abraded expression.
"Is Stauffer going to be charged with assault colonel?" Zeke asked, already
suspecting what the answer to his question would be.
Hannibal nodded and explained that he had left BA and Phillips filing the
necessary paper work. "Well kid, feel like getting out of here now or would
you like a guided tour of the whole facility?" Hannibal jeered as he helped
Face to his feet.
Katy gave Face a fresh icepack and suggested that he apply it every twenty
minutes to his bruised eye, and asked him to say hello to BA when he saw
him.
"Sure Katy…, and thanks. Sorry about cursing before." Face replied, feeling
remorseful at his actions.
Before heading back to the billets where Face would be able to rest from his
ordeal, Hannibal escorted him to Phillips' office with Zeke in tow.
Susan cringed when she saw Face's eye and the bandage that adorned his head.
"Does it hurt as bad as it looks?" She asked, trying to lighten Face's
mood.
"Ah, colonel…, I thought I heard you. Do come in." Phillips said, standing
at the entrance of his office.
"You too." He nodded, directing his comment
to both Face and Zeke.
Face cringed when he heard Phillips call him into his office.
'Time to face
the music sunshine' he mused to himself as he obeyed the command.
Both he and Zeke remained standing at attention until such time as Phillips
gave them the opportunity to stand at ease.
'Here goes, wonder how many days I'll get in the brig this time, hell it
wasn't my fault that Stauffer is such a jerk, he had it coming, the son of a
..' Face's thoughts were halted as Phillips stood in front of him, holding
the signed affidavit he had received from BA.
"Lieutenant as you can see I am aware of the incident that had taken place
not only at the cell this morning but also at the ablutions block prior. I
know that neither attack was any of your own incitement, but I do not and
will not condone this activity from any one in my command." Phillips voiced,
pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.
A deathly silence fell on the room as Phillips continued. "Sergeant Baracus,
albeit under duress has aided in the filing of the necessary paper work
about the alleged assault."
"Does this look alleged to you, sir?" Face spat, unable to contain his
demeanor any longer, the pain killer was starting to wear, sending the
throbbing sensation through every fibre of his body.
"Lieutenant!" Hannibal cautioned, noticing the taken aback look that
Phillips portrayed.
"It's all right colonel, it is quite understandable. I too would have a chip
on my shoulder if I had been singled out for these unprovoked attacks. I
imagine that you must have one hell of a headache son," Phillips spoke, his
words exhibiting empathy.
"But I do need to bring a halt to this sort of behaviour, we are all here to
do a job and to perform it admirably, we have the eyes of the world watching
us, so many have demonstrated their outrage at this war and we cannot be
seen fighting amongst ourselves. Hell I know what it's like to be away from
loved ones, it gets to everyone, but this kind of behaviour is inexcusable."
"Yes sir." Agreed the paling lieutenant, wishing that Phillips would just
cut to the chase and end this whole charade. 'Just tell me how many days
this time, maybe I can get my old cell back.' Face smiled to himself at the
thought.
"Lieutenant I require you to file your version of the assault, and off the
record Peck this is not the first time that Stauffer has caused trouble."
After obtaining Face the necessary documentation he left the office, leaving
Hannibal in charge.
"Come on kid, why don't you sit down before you fall down." Hannibal said,
guiding Face the to the general's desk.
"Thank you for your co-operation lieutenant. I will personally see to it
that Stauffer is charged with BCD (bad conduct discharge)." Phillips said,
showing a faint smile as he took the testimonial from Face.
"I won't beat about the bush gentlemen," Phillips said, addressing all who
were in the room. "The A Shau Valley*, which you know is conducive to the
NVA obtaining supplies and additional troops, is in threat of being over run
by the Viet Cong, we cannot let this happen."
Taking time to gauge the reaction on the faces of the men in front of him,
Phillips deeply inhaled and continued.
"Lieutenant Peck, I need you to take sergeant Anderson with you to help
select some men that you think would be suitable for this assignment. I
trust your judgement and I have captain Murdock ready and waiting to take
you when you're ready to leave."
"Yes sir." Face answered, not expecting to be the one to draft some men for
the task.
After discussing the situation more extensively, Phillips dismissed the men
and wished Face and Zeke well in their selection.
"Whew." Zeke whistled as he and Face headed to the heli-pad where Murdock
was waiting for them. "What do you make of that?"
"Huh?" Face asked, having not heard what Zeke had said to him.
"I said, I suppose that Phillips wanted me to go with you to keep you out of
trouble." Zeke grinned, trying to get a reaction from Face.
This time Face took notice of Zeke and laughed when he heard what Zeke had
said. "As I always say buddy, lead me not into temptation…., I can find it
all by myself." Face countered, enjoying the friendly bantering.
"Your chariot awaits." Murdock smiled, bowing enthusiastically as Face and
Zeke approached.
After they had boarded Murdock burst into song with his rendition of 'up,
up and away in my beautiful balloon, substituting the word Huey for balloon.
Zeke shook his head , good naturedly as he heard Face join in with
Murdock.
"Up, up and away in our beautiful huey." They both sang in unison, until
Murdock tired of the song and asked if anyone knew where they were meant to
be going.
"Murdock, your the pilot, how should I know how to get there?" Face asked,
when he saw Murdock struggling with the map he was holding in his lap.
"Well Face, do you see an airport? Are we anywhere near an airport
co-pilot?' Murdock asked, looking out the window of the huey as they passed
over the canopy of the jungle.
"Hey don't bring me into it, I was just along for the ride." Zeke smiled
when he saw Face turn and look in his direction.
"Gee, I don't know Murdock, how big an airport did you have in mind?" Asked
Face, unsure whether Murdock was having him on or not.
"I don't know... I see a little mark on my map, maybe that is the airport."
Murdock sighed as he looked at the map once again.
Face took the map from Murdock and shook his head. "Murdock you've got sauce
on the map, that's what that mark is. Do you know where we are going or
not?" Face asked, the desperation in his voice becoming obvious.
"Ya know Face, I can't tell. I wish the company would buy us some
instruments. This little dial thing is spinning around but I'm not sure….,
oh, I've got my trusty compass and the sun went down about 20 minutes ago,
so we've got to be on course." Murdock said excitedly, knowing that Face was
in a state of panic.
"Murdock!" Face exclaimed, wishing that he'd never gotten out of bed that
morning it had been a long and exhausting day and his headache was not
showing any signs of abating either.
Zeke tried to stifle a small laugh, which had not gone unnoticed by the
pilot who was having immense pleasure in baiting Face.
"Look, see that spot down there, that must be it. Either that or a fast food
outlet has opened up. Wonder if they have fly-through." Smiled Murdock. He
noticed that Face had taken two of the aspirin that he had been given for
the headache which was the inevitable result of the assault earlier on that
day.
"Hey Face, are you okay?" Murdock asked with an air of seriousness in his
voice, concerned for Face's well being.
"Yeah Murdock, I'm fine....., just a little tired." Admitted Face, "Well
this looks like the place." He finished while Murdock set the huey down.
"Wake
up and I'll walk with you to the CO's office." Murdock shouted out
after Face, while he waited for the blades to stop spinning.
Face nodded in reply and grabbed Zeke by the arm causing him to stop and
wait for Murdock.
In the CO's office when the introductions were made and dispensed with,
colonel Jackson informed Face that it would be best to wait until daylight
hours before they reviewed the possible recruits.
After devouring their meals that were provided to them, Face, Murdock and
Zeke were shown to their assigned sleeping quarters.
"I think I'll call it a night," Face said, rubbing his temples, "I feel
absolutely whacked, in more ways than one. You two do whatever you want
just wake me in the morning with a strong cup of coffee, I've a feeling I'll
be needing it."
"Goodnight Face. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Called Murdock as Face
entered his billet.
"Yeah, goodnight L-T…, and do you want one or two sugars in that coffee?"
Zeke asked as he bid goodnight to the wary lieutenant.
"Wakey, wakey rise and shine Face, breakfast is served." Smiled Murdock as
he set the tray that he was carrying, down beside Face. When the lieutenant
didn't answer him, Murdock leaned over him and gently shook him.
"Aw come on man wake up, I want to get back to camp sometime tonight."
Murdock grumbled and sat heavily on the side of Face's bed.
"Mur-mur-murdock! What are you doing here?" Face asked, squinting into the
stream of light that had found its way in through a partially open curtain.
"Well I had brought you some toast and coffee but since you're not …"
Murdock began to say before Face cut in.
"I'm sorry Murdock, didn't realize what time it was, didn't get much sleep
last night. I didn't mean to be grumpy." Apologized Face, accepting the
tray from Murdock.
"Head still hurts huh?"
"Yeah, I think I have the miniature version of the seven dwarves living in
there, just wish they stop with the pick axes for a few minutes." Face
grinned, slurping at the hot coffee.
When he finished the coffee, he looked around the room. "Where's Zeke?" He
asked, amazed that Zeke had not followed Murdock in.
"He said that he'd meet you on the parade ground, he wanted to catch up with
an old friend of his." Murdock replied, taking the cup from Face. " 'bout
time you got up anyway, I want to get back before nightfall. Promised
Harriett I'd give her a wash when we got back."
"I know I am going to hate my self for asking but who the hell is Harriett?"
Face asked bewildered.
"My helicopter." The captain answered proudly and gauging from the
expression on the lieutenant's face he got the reaction that he wanted.
"what the hell do you with a man who's fallen in love with a machine.
You're incurable. How about giving Harriett a wax job while you're at it."
Face chuckled.
"You know Face that isn't a bad idea." Murdock chortled and hearing the door
open turn in its direction.
"What isn't a bad idea?" Zeke asked not sure whether or not he wanted to
hear the answer.
"In a word Zeke, 'Harriett'." Face said smugly as he finished buttoning his
shirt.
Not wanting to ask any more, Zeke told Face that the new arrivals were out
on the exercise field.
"Well since you're here I won't bother meeting you on the parade ground.
Did you catch up with your friend okay?" Face asked, maneuvering them out
the door.
Murdock excused himself from their company, saying that he had to get back
to 'Harriett'.
"I'll see you in about thirty minutes." He said, departing from face and
Zeke.
"Okay so where are our victims?" Face gleamed, raising his eyebrows in a
impish manner.
When Zeke and face approached the new arrivals were split up into teams
playing rounds of volleyball against each other. Face nodded approval for
Zeke to call them to order.
"All right, listen up, I want all the winning teams over here…., you losers
what don't you just ah…., why don't you just play with each other." Zeke
said, trying to hide his own smiles.
The members of the winning teams gathered around him while the others went
back to playing volleyball. Face moved in closer to Zeke to hear what he
was going to say.
"Line up cherries!" Zeke shouted.
Each man rushing to be in line so that he could carry out his inspection.
Each soldier standing with his shoulders back and eyes forward.
"Got some good dope here," Zeke said gesturing to his pocket, "it's good
shit. Anyone want any?"
When no one answered, Zeke continued. "That's good because I don't have any
dope and I don't want any dopers in my platoon, nor do I want dummies. So
anyone who is a doper or a dummy fall out now."
Face grinned when he saw all the cherries looking at each other, not knowing
what to do. He thought about intervening but decide to let Zeke do all the
shouting, his head was too sore to have it start throbbing again when he
raised his voice.
"Good, I don't want no dummies either, and I do not want any bleeders," he
said, pushing four of the men lined up in front of him to the back row, "I
cannot stand the sight of blood."
"What about him?." One of the enlisted men asked when he saw the bandage of
Face's head.
"First off son, he is the L-T and was injured in the line of duty." Zeke
said gesturing to Face. He had no intention of telling anyone how Face had
come about his injuries. Looking back at the man who had raised the
question, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Henderson, sir." The soldier replied.
"Did you volunteer for the army son?"
"Yes sergeant." Henderson replied, not breaking his stare at Zeke.
"Why didn't you step out with the other dummies when I said to?" Zeke asked
and then turned to Face.
"L-T did you volunteer to be here?" The sergeant asked, hoping that Face
would give his answer.
Face came closer to where Zeke was, avoiding the mud on the ground. "Well
sergeant Anderson I would have to say yes to that one. It was either
volunteer or D.I.E." Face grinned spelling the word die.
"D.I.E sir?" asked one of the recruits that was paying full attention to
him.
"It was the Army's term for guys like me who 'volunteered' only because we
knew we were about to be drafted. I suggest you listen to your sergeant
now." Face replied.
"O.K you heard the lieutenant, I want survivors and if I call your name I
want you to step forward."
As he perused the list of each man's skills, he looked at them all again
before making his final decision.
"Barnes, Henderson, Stevens, Machio, Webber, Gordon. The rest of you men
are dismissed, better luck next time. All right you men are my platoon, pack
your trash we leave at 1400 hours. Move! Move! Move!"
Seeing the men who had been chosen to fill the positions on the platoon,
Face grinned, recalling his first day of being chosen for an assignment.
"Looks like you got a good bunch there Zeke." Face said congratulating him
on his selection.
"You know me Face, only take the best that is on offer." Zeke replied,
pulling a cigar from his shirt pocket.
"Don't I know it." Face gently complained when he saw his lost cigar find
its way to Zeke's mouth.
"You know the first time I came here and got recruits was when I met Purcell
and Horn. You know I'm going to miss Horn, even though he was a
conscientious objector." Zeke uttered, fingering the harmonica which he
carried in his pocket.
"Well old buddy, we'll find you another harmonica player, maybe someone who
can teach you how to play before we have to throw.."
"Listen.., listen! Hey do you hear that?" Zeke asked excitedly, hearing the
haunting strains of harmonica music coming from behind the billet.
Before Face could say 'oh no, not another one' Zeke had scarpered around the
corner, leaving Face to follow him.
When Face caught up with Zeke he was talking with the player of the music.
"That's 'digger's blues' and that ain't bad either. That is good, I'm
telling you that is first rate." Zeke offered as he stood in front of the
man.
"Hey thanks."
"Where did you learn to play like that?"
"Well I'm from Chicago, a lot of blues in Chicago."
Oh yeah, yeah, …, Junior Wells, Paul Butterfield…" Zeke began to say.
"Butterfield's a friend of mine.
"No." Zeke said, shocked that the soldier knew of Butterfield.
"Yeah, him and Barry Goldberg and Al Cooper too.
"Those guys are the greatest. I can't even find 'C' chord half the time."
"Don't I know it." Jibed Face as he listened in to the conversation.
"I could show you it's not that hard." The soldier offered.
"Can you supply ear muffs as well?" Face asked good naturedly as Zeke looked
towards the heavens.
"Yeah, tell you what, I'm gonna put you in Bravo company you're going to be
in my platoon." Zeke declared.
"Great just what we need, another mouth organist. Oh well since you're
joining the platoon I am lieutenant Peck and this is sergeant Anderson.
What's your name?"
"Hale, sir. Private, first class." Hale said extending his hand.
"We leave in 1400 hours pack your stuff." Zeke said, grinning that he had
located a fellow blues player.
"Great just what we need, another mouth organist. Oh well since you're
joining the platoon I am lieutenant Peck and this is sergeant Anderson.
What's your name?"
"Hale, sir. Private, first class." Hale said extending his hand.
"We leave in 1400 hours pack your stuff." Zeke said, grinning that he had
located a fellow blues player.
"Welcome to 'Bravo company' boys." Face smiled as he shut the gate on the
truck. "Sergeant Anderson and I will meet you back at camp, we've got some
recon work to do on the way." Explained the lieutenant as he signaled to the
driver that all was secure.
With a chorus of 'yes sir' the truck departed with the eager recruits.
"Well Zeke, old buddy we've got work to do." Face grinned, clapping his hand
on Zeke's shoulder.
On the way over to where Murdock was refueling the chopper, Face explained
to Zeke all about Harriett. While they were still laughing about it they
saw Murdock unhooking the fuel line and giving the chopper a friendly pat.
"All set to go Face? 'cause the sooner we get back the sooner I can give
'Harriett' her wax job." Murdock smiled emphatically.
"I tell you Zeke, he's in love with this chopper, next thing you know he'll
be proposing to it." Face jibed Murdock, while Zeke enjoyed the light
heartedness.
"keep talking like that Face and you won't get an invite to the wedding."
Murdock growled, turning to speak to the corpsman who had just joined them.
"Put the fuel on my tab." The zany pilot smiled.
"But sir…" The corpsman started to say.
"No, I insist, after all if it makes 'Harriett' happy it makes me happy."
Murdock finished and climbed into the chopper.
"Uh…, lieutenant, sir…..may I ask who 'Harriett' is?" Asked the stunned
corpsman.
"Trust me…, you do not want to know." Face smiled as he signaled Zeke to get
on board.
Face and Zeke took their places in the chopper, strapped themselves in and
gave Murdock the all clear.
Within minutes they had departed the base and overtaken the truck
transporting the new recruits.
"So do you know what we're meant to be looking for?" Zeke asked, watching
the truck disappear from view.
"Yeah, word is from AO (Area of operations) is that the VC are advancing
towards the South, quicker than anyone had thought. Our job my friend is to
locate said VC forces and report with their locations."
"Yeah but face, what's the catch?" Zeke asked, guessing that this task was
not going to be as easy as it sounded.
"Zeke, I'm hurt that you could ask such a thing. Trust me, it's going to be
a piece of cake." Smiled Face, who resumed watching the ground below him.
"You know Face coming from you those are the two most scariest words in the
English language, besides from this height, how are we meant to tell if they
are VC or not?"
"Simple, we just pull them over and ask for their driver's licence." Face
laughed.
Zeke shook his head in disbelief but soon saw the funny side and he too
enjoyed the joke.
"Hey Murdock, can you take us down a little lower?" Face asked, watching the
moving troops pass through the open cover below.
As Murdock maneuvered the chopper so that Face could get a better view of
how many troops were passing below, the rotor of the chopper was hit with a
105mm howitzer.
"HANG ON!" Murdock yelled, fighting for control of the chopper as it spun in
dizzying circles.
In the back of the chopper, Face and Zeke both tightened their seatbelts an
extra notch and dug their fingers into their seats as the chopper plummeted
towards the ground below, smoke pouring from the engine.
In the cockpit. Murdock was pulling hard on the control stick as the
stricken craft yawed wildly out of control. Having the presence of mind, he
hit the fuel release, dumping what was left of the aviation gas on the
vegetation that they were quickly descending on.
In the cockpit. Murdock was pulling hard on the control stick as the
stricken craft yawed wildly out of control. Having the presence of mind, he
hit the fuel release, dumping what was left of the aviation gas on the
vegetation that they were quickly descending on.
"Shit! There goes the 'Jesus nut'!" Murdock swore as he felt the chopper
begin to spin violently, like a small vessel tossed amongst giant swells at
sea. Murdock knew instantly from the pull of the chopper that the main
rotor retaining nut which holds the rotor onto the rest of the chopper had
gone.
"I guess only Jesus can help us now." He muttered to himself. There being
nothing else he could do to ensure a softer landing, or directing the craft
to a landing spot, Murdock braced himself as his beloved chopper plunged
rapidly to the canopy of the jungle.
Huge branches broke and gave way to the force of the chopper crashing
through the dense jungle cover. Trees that had stood for many years fell
by the wayside as the huge craft tore a downward path through them. The
blades sheared from the craft, embedded themselves into the massive trunks,
while the tail section ruptured and came to its precarious resting place
over the immense branches. The bulk of the huey continued to fall,
shattering the large branches as thought they were twigs, until it to came
to its final resting place, amongst the flora of the jungle floor.
Three inert figures lay in the chopper, while the metal body creaked and
moaned as it settled. Wild boars that had been feeding had fled, as had the
hundreds of migratory birds, all the while the occupants not knowing or
hearing the sounds of wildlife around them.
Zeke was the first to regain consciousness and willed his body to an upright
position, gingerly holding his ribs as he did so. After a cursory check he
unstrapped himself from his seat and moved over to where Face was lying,
sprawled awkwardly across his seat.
While checking the lieutenant for any signs of injury, he heard Murdock
calling from the front of the huey.
"Hang on Murdock, I'll be with you in a minute. Are you hurt?" Zeke asked,
whilst inspecting the cut on Face's head that had reopened.
"Zeke? Tell me that its you and not my imagination." Murdock beseeched as
he began to free himself from his harness.
"Yeah it's me Murdock, I'm okay what about you?" Zeke questioned as he
undid the lieutenants seatbelt.
There was a muffled reply from the cockpit which Zeke became concerned
about. "MURDOCK?" He yelled, waking Face out of his slumber.
"Is Murdock all right?" Face asked, wincing a little as he moved himself to
a sitting position.
"I'm not sure, but if you're okay, I'd like to go and check on him." Zeke
said, getting Face to hold a small sterile swab in place. "I'll be back to
check on you soon."
Zeke gave face one last look before he clambered out of the misshapen craft
to locate Murdock.
"Go…., I'll be fine." Grinned Face, motioning for Zeke to go and check no
Murdock, while he exited the chopper.
Face was leaning against a tree when Zeke returned with a forlorn looking
Murdock, who apart from being a little shaken was otherwise all right.
"Murdock what's wrong?" Face asked as he neared his friend.
"I ... I ... I didn't even get to give Harriett a wax job and now she's all
broken. Face do you think that she'll ever forgive me?" Murdock sobbed into
his jacket.
Zeke shrugged his shoulders, not knowing how to comfort or humor the dismal
pilot, while Face supported Murdock, occasionally patting him on his back.
"Come on Murdock, I'm sure the army will cough up for another one…., hell
Murdock I should be able to find you one myself." Face grinned, trying to
break Murdock from his pitiable mood.
"You mean it Face? You really mean it?" Murdock asked excitedly, like a
child being given a much awaited gift.
"Trust me." Face beamed, embracing Murdock in a comforting hug.
Zeke shook his head and rolled his eyes, when he heard Face say 'trust me'.
'Oh boy, where is he going to come up with another bird? Ands who's bird
will it be?' Zeke silently asked himself, imagining Face conning some poor
PX operator out of a helicopter, that he'd only just requisitioned.
"Have you tried using the chopper radio?" Face asked, still pressing the
small bandage against the reopened cut on his head, unsuccessfully trying to
swat Zeke's hand away while he spoke.
"Face would you just stay still for a minute!" Zeke growled, becoming
exasperated with his attempts at trying to get the bandage to stay in place.
"Murdock can you help me out here?"
"How?" Murdock asked, unsure of what Zeke wanted. "And Face, the radio's
dead. Got any other suggestions?"
"Captain Murdock," Zeke replied, empathizing the word captain, " do you not
outrank the lieutenant here?" The sergeant finished gesturing with his free
hand to the insignia that each wore.
"Oh yeah." Murdock grinned. "Lieutenant Peck I am giving you a direct order
to sit down and let the good sergeant take a look at that think skull of
yours and do what he has to do."
"Murdock you can't be serious." Winged Face as Zeke tried to make him sit
down.
"Lieutenant Peck I believe I just gave you an order. Do I take it that you
are disobeying that order? I could always have you put on report for this."
Murdock gloated, enjoying the sense of authority he held over Face.
"You wouldn't." Face stated, looking for a sign from Murdock that the
captain was only pulling his leg.
"Ahhh, I do believe that now would be an appropriate time for me to say the
famous words of a certain lieutenant 'Trust Me'" The zany pilot responded,
taking pleasure in seeing Face do as he was ordered to do.
When Zeke was satisified that he had stopped the bleeding as best he could
he gave Face an hand up and promptly handed him two pain killers. "I don't
want to listen to you complaining of a headache all the way back."
Obligingly Face accepted the pain killers and swallowed them, chasing them
down with some water.
"Look we can't stand here all day, enjo